OK   THK 

University  of  Californi 

Received  <J^y/lJi^        .  i>^Q  j^_. 

Accession  No.    7 ^   (P  J  ^ .    CLus  No. 


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THE 


AMERICAN 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL 


AND 


TS    ADJUNCTS. 


By    JAMES  W.  ALEXANDER,  D.D. 


<'^_  \  ti  R  A  ^ 

OF  THE 

{  7N-IVERSITT 

PHILADELPHIA: 
AMERICAX   SUXDAY-SCIIOOL    UNIOX, 

No.  316  CHESTNUT  STREET. 
A'EW  YORK:  375  BROADWAY. 

BOSTOX:   No.  9  CORXHILL CIXCIXXATT:   41  WEST  FOURTU  ST 

LOUISVILLE:   No.  103  FOURTH  ST. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Omgrtss,  in  the  year  1856,  hy  Vie 

AMERICAN  SrXDAJ'-SCHOOL    UNIOX, 

iv  the  ClerJc's  Office  of  the  DiMrid  Court  of  the  Eastern  District  nf 

Pennsylvania. 


yi^o  3/ 


JS^  Xo  books  are  published  by  the  America??  Sunday-School  Umon 
u-ithoid  the  sancticm,  of  Uie  Committee,  of  PuLlicaticm,  consisting  of  four- 
teen members,  from  the  foTloicing  denominations  of  Christians,  viz.  Btip- 
tist,  Methodist,  Omgregatumal,  Episcopal,  Presbyterian,  LuVieran,  uud 
Peformed  Dutch.  Not  more  than  three  of  the  ntfmhers  can  be  of  the  same 
denomination,  and  no  feo^»7.-  can  be  puLlishrd  to  uhich  oirj  member  of  Vie 
Committte  shall  object. 


'Z.O 


PREFACE. 


If  apology  is  needed  for  my  coming  for- 
ward upon  a  subject  so  grave,  which  has, 
moreover,  tasked  the  pens  of  many  able 
authors,  it  must  be  found  in  the  following 
statement. 

More  than  forty  years  ago  it  was  my 
lot  to  sit  on  an  humble  form  in  one 
of  the  earliest  Sunday-schools  set  up  in 
America.  In  process  of  time  I  became 
a  teacher  in  similar  institutions;  and  ever 
since  my  entrance  upon  the  gospel  ministry 
I  have  accounted  it  an  honour  to  work 
collaterally  in  the  same  cause.  In  attempt- 
ing to  promote  the  same  ends,  I  have  con- 
structed and  launched  from  the  presses 
which  now  produce  the  present  work 
more  than  thirty  trifles,  which,  "for  bet- 
ter for  worse,"  have  gone  sailing  out  upon 

the  ocean  of  print,   some  to  be  high  and 

1*  .  6 


b  PREFACE. 

dry  on  the  strand  of  oblivion,  and  some 
to  be  still  floating  on  the  wave,  protected, 
like  the  paper-nautilus,  by  their  very  frailty. 
It  is  most  natural,  however  weak,  that  I 
should  have  a  Vx'arm  side  towards  Sunday- 
schools  and  their  literature. 

But,  more  than  this,  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  this  mode  of  beneficence  and 
sober  contemplation  of  its  working,  through 
many  years  of  varied  and  often  saddening 
experience  in  regard  to  the  fortunes  of  the 
young,  have  only  tended  to  augment  my 
admiration  for  a  plan  which  I  verily  be- 
lieve to  be  of  God.  ]^otwithstanding  some 
temptations  to  blind  predilection  which 
may  be  disclosed  by  the  above  remarks, 
the  subject,  it  is  believed,  will  be  found 
to  have  been  treated  without  hurtful  bias. 
Sunday-schools,  when  here  applauded,  are 
discussed  as  belonging  to  a  system  far 
wider  than  any  temporary  human  device. 
They  have  been  placed  in  due  subordina- 
tion to  the  organism  of  the  church,  even 
as  contemplated  by  far  sterner  churchmen 
than  the  present  writer.  Pains  has  been 
taken  to  show  that  no  collision  need  ever 
ensue  between  church  and  school.     Indeed, 


PREFACE.  7 

a  large  part  of  what  is  coutaiued  in  the 
following  pages  might  be  applied  with 
rigour  to  those  church  or  parochial  schools 
which  abjure  every  project  of  connection 
beyond  their  own  ecclesiastical  picket- 
fence.  At  the  same  time,  an  avowal  will 
not  escape  notice  of  certain  principles 
touching  the  union  of  different  evangeli- 
cal bodies  in  this  work ;  principles  which 
will  appear  lax  to  some  whom  I  love  and 
reverence,  but  which,  nevertheless,  have 
not  been  adopted  hastily  nor  lost  strength 
with  increasing  years.  They  are  so  stated 
and  so  guarded  that  even  the  most  rigid 
must  perceive  that  the  power  is  left  alto- 
gether in  their  own  hands.  Division  of 
those  who  love  the  same  Lord  is  not 
rendered  necessaiy  by  sincere  adherence 
even  to  points  of  difterence.  Good  Philip 
Henry,  father  of  the  Commentator,  (both 
father  and  son  being  of  the  persuasion  which 
I  am  bold  to  acknowledge,)  used  to  repeat 
the  saying  of  some  wise  men  in  the  troubled 
times  of  his  boyhood, —  that  "if  all  the 
Presbyterians  had  been  like  Mr.  Stephen 
Marshall,  and  all  the  Independents  like  Mr. 
Jeremiah  Burroughs,  and  all  the  Episcopal 


8  PREFACE. 

men  like  Archbishop  Usher,  the  breaches 
of  the  church  would  soon  have  been 
bealecl." 

When  the  American  Sunday-school  Union 
shall  publish  error,  or  shall  cease  to  pub- 
lish saving  truth,  and  shall  persevere  in 
the  breach  of  covenant,  I  will  join  all 
faithful  men  in  abandoning  and  denounc- 
ing the  Society.  At  present  she  stands 
to  be  judged  by  her  books;  and,  if  com- 
plaint is  to  be  made  of  these,  it  should 
not  come  from  the  friends  of  established 
evangelical  doctrine ;  which  leads  me  to 
say  that  an  unusual  space  will  be  found 
devoted  to  the  consideration  of  good  and 
bad  books.  Plainness,  if  not  severity,  has 
been  exercised  towards  some  of  the  enor- 
mities of  the  contemporary  press.  It  is 
time  that  teachers,  preachers  and  parents 
should  apply  a  rigid  scrutiny  to  this  abuse. 
Instead  of  running  a  muck  against  every 
fable  or  parable,  from  ^sop  and  Bunyan 
down  to  Sherwood  and  Kennedy,  account- 
ing all  fiction  malignant  if  it  be  in  prose, 
and  making  good  coin  bear  all  the  oppro- 
brium of  base-metal  counterfeits,  the  friends 
of  truth  and  purity  should  use  all  means  to 


PREFACE.  0 

push  out  corrupt  literature  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  that  which  is  Christian. 

The  chapters  which  treat  of  Sunday- 
schools  as  belonging  to  an  age  of  prepara- 
tion, as  scattering  temporal  blessings  on 
every  side  of  their  direct  march,  and  as 
claiming  unwonted  zeal  on  the  part  of 
teachers,  cannot  but  find  a  hearty  response 
from  the  sympathies  of  those  who  are 
actual  workers.  To  these  the  little  volume 
is  commended,  with  humble  prayer  for 
God's  blessing. 

New  York,  Nov.  1,  1856. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

(jeneral  Religious   Education  demanded  by  the 
Actual  Condition  of  American  Society 13 

CHAPTER   IL 

Children  intrusted  to  us  to  be  trained  for  God 
and  our  Country 49 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  Sunday-School  Portrayed 82 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Bible-School 115 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Increase  of  Knowledge  by  Books.. 143 

CHAPTER  VI. 
The    Multitude   of  Books,   and    the    Resulting 

i^angers  and  Duties 174 

11 


12  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

PAGE 

Reading  Habits 201 

'  CHAPTER  VIII. 
Sunday-Schools  considered  as  belonging  to  an 
Age  of  Preparation 225 

CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Collateral  Influence  of  Sunday-Schools  upon 
the  Social  Condition  of  the  Poor 262 

CHAPTER  X. 
The  Teacher's  Incitement 309 


EELIGIOUS  EDUCATION. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

GENERAL     RELIGIOUS     EDUCATION     DEMANDED    BY 
THE   ACTUAL    CONDITION    OF    AMERICAN    SOCIETY. 

The  communication  to  the  soul  of  divino 
truth,  which  is  the  appointed  way  of  bring- 
iug  rescue  and  happiness,  has  many  minis- 
tries. All  nature  reflects  a  portion  of  this 
truth,  which,  however,  no  man  is  qualified 
to  comprehend  till  he  has  found  the  key  in 
the  book  of  revelation.  God  speaks  to  us 
by  the  light  of  reason,  by  the  conscience, 
by  the  Scriptures,  by  the  ministry,  by  the 
sacraments,    by    providence,    and    by   our 

fellow-men,   especially  in   the   sacred  rela- 

2  13 


14  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

tioiis  of  parents,  masters,  guardians,  friends 
and  instructors.  So,  also,  the  great  saving 
lessons  come  to  different  classes  of  man- 
kind, from  infancy  to  old  age.  But  the 
nature  of  the  process,  herein  following  the 
nature  of  the  human  soul,  demands  that  it 
should  be  continued  long, — or,  what  is  the 
same  thing,  that  it  should  begin  early. 
Here  is  the  basis  of  popular  education ; 
and,  as  nations  are  made  up  of  millions  who 
yesterday  were  children,  all  legislators  have 
seen  the  connection  between  juvenile  train- 
ing and  the  well-being  of  States. 

By  the  two  great  means  of  Schools  and 
Books,  one  inclusive  of  the  other,  mankind 
lire  ci\dlized;  by  the  same,  under  the  mi- 
nistry of  gospel  truth  in  the  church,  they 
are  Christianized.  Books  may  be  without 
schools,  and  in  extreme  cases,  where  oral 
teaching  is  made  compulsory,  schools  may 
be  without  books;  but  each  infers  the 
other.  In  both  there  are  gradations,  lying 
between  the  Arab  school  of  half-naked  little 


A   DEMAND.  15 

Mussulmans  under  the  lofty  palm  reading 
from  square  boards,  to  the  universities  of 
Oxford,  Paris  and  Berlin ;  and  from  the 
hornbook  of  the  Irish  hedge-schoolmaster 
and  our  own  infant  library  up  to  the  Mus^e 
Francais,  Audubon  and  the  cyclopaedias. 
"Within  these  limits  what  an  expanse  !  And 
how  unutterably  important  that  such  a 
world  of  forces  should  bear  mightily  on 
the  human  progress  which  God  designs ! 

When  in  the  sequel  I  endeavour  to  show 
the  felicitous  union  of  these  two  vast  instru- 
nientalities  under  the  Sunday-school,  I  am 
only  proceeding  on  the  lesson  which  is  no- 
where more  strongly  expressed  than  in  the 
adage  of  Solomon,  "  Train  up  a  child  in  the 
way  he  should  go,  and  when  he  is  old  he 
will  not  depart  from  it."*  Meditation  on 
this,  accompanied  with  suitable  observation 
of  the  world,  will  insure  the  belief  that  the 
religious  education   of  youth   is  the  most 

*  Proverbs  xxii.  6. 


16  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

hopeful  means  of  benefiting  society.  Con- 
templating the  evils  of  mankind,  we  find 
that  our  power  of  opposing  them,  in  their 
adult  state,  is  small.  It  would  be  a  delight- 
ful result  if  we  could  reform  our  whole  popu- 
lation ;  but  the  only  hope  held  out  is  in  re- 
gard to  the  children,  as  being  the  accessible 
part,  because  the  children  of  to-day  will  be 
the  grown  people  of  to-morrow, — a  simple 
truth  little  recognised  by  statesmen  and 
legislators.  All  which  drives  us  to  schools, 
and  especially  to  religious  schools,  as  the 
best  method  yet  devised  for  seasoning  the 
early  mind  of  the  nation  with  the  truth 
which  is  most  important.  The  great  maxim 
of  the  wise  man  is,  to  have  good  men  we 
must  provide  good  children.  And  the  pro- 
position which  I  now  reaffirm  is,  that  the 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  OF  YOUTH  IS  THE  MOST 
HOPEFUL    MEANS-  OF    BENEFITING    SOCIETY. 

I.  The  more  widely  and  deeply  we  exa- 
mine the  population  of  our  country,  the 
more   fixed   must   be    the   conclusion   that 


A   DEMAND.  17 

most  of  our  ills  arise  from  ignorance  and 
irreligion.  It  cannot  be  said  of  any  period 
of  our  history,  with  strictness  of  truth,  that 
all  the  people  were  pure  and  enlightened. 
Yet  there  were  portions  of  the  early  colo- 
nies which  were  as  intelligent,  orderly  and 
pious  as  any  entire  body  of  men  in  any 
country  or  age.  There  are  States  in  which 
religious  knowledge  and  virtuous  living 
were  impressed  on  all  the  original  settlers, 
and  in  which,  notwithstanding  the  disas- 
trous changes  which  time  has  wrought,  we 
still  discern  the  original  impress.  There  are 
regions  where  even  now  there  is  a  com- 
manding prevalence  of  domestic  virtue ; 
where  profane  swearing  is  infamous ;  where 
the  suffrage  of  the  mass  is  favourable  to 
temperance ;  where  duels  are  unknown ; 
and  where  the  Sabbath  is  externally  ho- 
noured. And  these  are  the  districts  where 
also  the  education  of  the  young  has  been 
most  sedulously  maintained.     But  it  would 

be  unfounded  flattery  to  assert  any  thing 

2* 


18  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

like  this  of  our  whole  population.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  universal  depravit}^  of  our  race 
and  the  consequent  tendency  of  all  that 
is  good  in  humanity  to  deteriorate,  many 
causes  conspire  to  make  us  more  and 
more  corrupt;  and  hence  the  demand  for 
a  vehement  opposition  to  this  downward 
torrent. 

The  means  of  knowledge  and  of  grace 
have  not  been  kept  abreast  of  the  advancing 
column  of  population.  The  zeal  for  ma- 
terial prosperity  and  worldly  success  has 
not  been  accompanied  with  an  equal  zeal 
for  light  and  religion.  As  emigration  has 
spread  itself  over  new  tracts  reclaimed  from 
the  wilderness,  the  progressive  wave  has 
flowed  beyond  the  means  of  sound  instruc- 
tion. Industry  has  begotten  wealth ;  wealth 
has  engendered  luxury  and  pride ;  these 
have  weakened  -the  principle  of  holiness ; 
and  the  children  of  the  church  have  grown 
up  in  conformity  to  the  world,  and  have 
been  followed  by  another  generation,  still 


A    DEMAND.  1^ 

furtlier  off"  from  the  frugality,  strictness  and 
reflection  of  the  fathers.     Cities  and  towns 
have  their  peculiar  evils;  and  frontier-set- 
tlements as  truly,  but  under  varied  forms, 
have  their's.     In  a  state  of  things  like  this, 
unbounded  liberty  of  opinion  has  led  to 
latitudinary  doctrines,  or  to  the  denial  of  all 
Christian   doctrine.      This   would  be   true 
even  if  our  nation  comprised  only  the  de- 
scendants  of  the  original  stock.     But  we 
have  to  add  a  new  ingredient  in  the  acces- 
sion, by  myriads  of  foreigners,  sometimes 
infidel,  sometimes  Popish,  and,  in  a  majority 
of  instances,  less  addicted  to  religious  senti- 
ment than  even  those  to  whom  they  come. 
It  need  cause  no  surprise,  therefore,  that 
sagacious  observers  augur  gloomily  for  the 
future   and    believe    that   the    moral   tone 
of  society  at  large  is  suffering  a  depression. 
We  read  this  in  the  records  of  our  police, 
our  courts  of  justice  and  our  prisons;  in  our 
journals,  our  public  amusements  and  our 
streets ;    in  our  elections  and  our  halls  of 


20  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

.egislatioE,  wliere  men  of  uncivilized  man- 
ners were  once  rare;  in  popular  violence, 
open  intemperance,  suicide,  political  cor- 
ruption and  lust  for  war.  These  things  re- 
veal a  tendency  towards  a  sort  of  frontier- 
barbarism;  and  bad  must  grow  worse  in 
a  fearfully-augmenting  proportion  unless 
some  vigorous  instrumentality  be  applied 
to  arrest  the  plague.  It  is  a  serious  ques- 
tion for  the  Christian  and  the  patriot  what 
means  shall  be  employed  in  this  direction. 

n.  In  contemplating  a  host  of  evil  in- 
fluences so  formidable,  one  of  the  first  im- 
pressions forced  upon  us  is  that  our  power 

OF  OPPOSITION  IS  VERY  MUCH  LIMITED.      EvOD 

when  we  see  the  enemy  and  are  eager  to 
contend,  our  means  of  attack  reach  but 
a  little  way.  Look,  for  example,  at  the 
dense  and  increasing  body  of  human  be- 
ings, fully  grown  and  active,  who  are  igno- 
rant, misguided  and  variously  depraved, 
and  then  inquire,  What  force  can  we  bring 
to  bear  upon  them?      For,  unless  this  be 


A    DEMAND.  21 

done,  there  seems  no  salvation  from  evils 
worse  than  we  have  dreamed  of  in  our  dark- 
est hours.  We  have  the  Bible  ;  but  w^ho 
shall  carry  it,  and  who  shall  induce  them  to 
read?  We  have  churches,  but  in  no  such 
proportion  as  to  supply  the  wants ;  and  to 
those  which  we  have  the  persons  in  ques- 
tion do  not  and  will  not  come.  We  have 
ministers, — many  thousands  of  them  ;  but, 
even  on  the  charitable  supposition  that  all 
these  preach  Christ's  gospel,  their  number 
is  not  adequate  to  a  hundredth  part  of  the 
necessity.  We  have  schools  ;  but  they  come 
too  late  for  those  who  have  grown  hard  in 
their  prejudice  and  unbelief.  Even  if  Mr. 
Maurice's  scheme  for  adult  colleges  and 
lectures  for  working-men  should  be  proved 
to  be  more  than  a  chimera,  it  has  not  be- 
gun to  be  tried  in  America,  and  it  is  inap- 
plicable to  those  who  need  the  first  rudi- 
ments. It  is  obvious  that  our  array  of 
means  does  not  reach  the  mass  on  which 
we  desire  to   operate.     It  is  true,  we  are 


22        ,  RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

bound  by  every  principle  of  love  and  duty 
to  stretch  forth  our  h^ds  to  these  very 
persons,  hardened  and  'even  hopeless  as 
they  seem,  with  the  Bible  and  other 
vehicles  of  truth,  especially  the  preaching 
of  the  word.  And  something  of  this  the 
Christian  is  continually  attempting ;  though 
never  yet  with  that  ardour  and  sacrifice 
which  are  due.  Yet,  after  all,  how  little 
impression  are  we  making  upon  the  solid 
front  of  the  host,  while  it  is  receiving  in- 
calculable reinforcements  in  its  rear!  The 
instances  of  our  success  scarcely  as  yet 
modify  the  unbroken  line  of  unchristian 
or  antichristian  opposition.  Is  not  this  a 
disheartening  prospect  for  those  who  shall 
succeed  us  ?  Take  any  one  great  city  into 
your  moral  survey;  (I  address  men  who, 
like  myself,  have  passed  middle  life :)  first, 
recall  the  moral  and  religious  changes  of 
such  city  since  you  were  in  youth ;  next, 
examine  what  the  tendency  is  at  present; 
and  then  answer,  if  no  new  element  be  iii- 


A   DEMAND.  23 

troduced,  what  is  likely  to  be  the  condition 
of  churches  and  people  in  the  year  1900  ? 

III.  It  would  be  a  blessed  thing,  we  all 
agree,  if  we  could  reform  the  whole  of  our 

PROFLIGATE    ADULT    POPULATION.      But    those 

who  have  attempted  it,  even  on  a  small  scale 
and  in  favourable  circumstances,  have  found 
the  work  difficult, — some  would  add,  hope- 
less. And  for  this  difficulty  there  are  reasons 
lying  deep  in  human  nature  and  the  nature 
of  things.  Figuratively  expressed,  the  task 
proposed  is  that  of  taming  the  old  lion ;  of 
writing  on  granite;  of  moulding  rock  in 
your  fingers ;  of  twining  the  gnarled  boughs 
of  the  oak.  'We  say  no  new  or  doubtful 
thing  when  we  declare  that,  if  moral  force 
is  to  be  applied,  it  will  be  applied  at  im- 
mense disadvantage  to  the  adult  subject. 
He  who  has  become  a  man  is  already  edu- 
cated for  good  or  for  evil.  Such  are  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  around  us  with  whom 
we  have  to  deal.  Each  has  taken  some 
form  of  settled  distortion.     His  habits  of 


24  RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

thouglit,  feeling  and  action  are  to  a  certain 
degree  fixed.  Taking  the  grosser  masses 
of  such,  we  must  affirm  the  dreadful  truth 
that  the  J  are  already  ruined.  Even  when, 
here  and  there,  by  sovereign  grace,  one  per- 
haps out  of  a  thousand  comes  over  to  the 
side  of  truth  and  righteousness,  it  is  with 
limbs  rigid  and  knotted,  with  defects  which 
we  can  never  entirely  supply  and  enormities 
which  we  can  never  efiectually  abate.  How 
few  are  the  instances  among  tens  of  thou- 
sands in  our  community,  after  the  labours 
of  hundreds  of  ministers  and  assisting 
brethren,  of  any  thorough  reformations 
from  superstition  and  vice  in  those  wh® 
have  grown  old  as  Papists,  heretics,  or  in- 
fidels! The  accessions  to  our  churches — 
let  it  be  owned  with  joy,  yet  with  grief — are 
chiefly  from  the  children  of  the  church, — 
from  those  who  have  been  kept  long  under 
the  stated  means  of  grace  and  trained  up  in 
the  way  they  should  go.  The  truth  is, 
the  multitude  of  irreligious  adults  are  be- 


A    DEMAND.  25 

yond  our  reach.  The  vast  machinery  of 
our  religious  efforts  does  not  touch  them. 
The  doctrines  of  salvation  which  we  pos- 
sess are  brought  into  no  apposition  with 
their  minds.  They  live  and  die  in  a  Chris- 
tian land  without  direct  influence  from  our 
ministry  and  our  churches.  Several  of  our 
religious  denominations,  at  least,  have,  in  a 
marked  degree,  lost  their  hold  on  many  of 
the  lower  and  even  middle  classes. 

Of  our  citizen  soldiers,  our  heroic  fire-de- 
partment, our  mechanics  and  day-labourers, 
how  small  a  proportion  do  we  recognise  in 
our  religious  assemblies  !  There  are  blessed 
exceptions  ;  but  the  Protestant  bodies  have 
something  to  learn  on  this  point  from  the 
zealous  labour  of  Popery,  at  once  expansive 
and  penetrating,  which  reaches  every  Irish- 
man on  a  railway  in  the  mountains.  Some 
of  our  Christian  bodies — and,  prominent 
among  these,  the  Methodists — continue  to 
beat  up  for  recruits  among  the  humblest 
portion  of  society;  and  in  so  doing  they 


26  RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

walk  closely  in  the  steps  of  the  Redeemer. 
Ill  c(aiiitry  places,  also,  the  evil  which  we 
are  considering  is  not  so  apparent :  the 
"rich  and  the  poor  meet  together"  in  God's 
house.  But  in  cities  and  great  towns,  the 
advance  of  wealth,  luxury  and  pride  has 
wrought  a  segregation  of  the  rich  from  the 
poor  which  practically  leaves  many  of  the 
latter  (so  far  as  we  are  concerned)  to  serve 
other  gods.  The  truly  Christian  and  hu- 
mane lamentations  of  Dr.  Muhlenberg  on 
this  point  have  a  reference  far  wider  than 
to  the  Episcopalian  branch  of  Christendom. 
We  need  to  be  perpetually  on  the  watch 
against  neglect  of  the  class  who  most  need 
our  instruction.  In  any  great  civic  pro- 
cession of  the  numerous  trades  and  associa- 
tions which  marshal  before  us  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  our  productive  population,  is  it 
not  true  that  we  must  surmise,  concerning 
most,  that  they  statedly  attend  no  orthodox 
place  of  worship?  And,  such  being  the 
case,  what  are  our  chances  for  reforming 


A    DEMAND.  27 

the  profligate  masses?  The  adult  popula- 
tion not  only  is  devoid  of  impression  by 
our  means,  but  cannot  be  brought  under 
any  immediate  efforts.  The  children  of 
such,  left  to  themselves,  must  be  even 
worse  than  the  parents.  If  this  is  more 
strikingly  true  of  cities,  it  holds  in  a  due 
proportion  with  i-egard  to  all  those  through- 
out the  land  who  are  not  trained  to  regular 
attendance  on  the  means  of  grace. 

IV.  But  while  the  adult  masses,  con- 
firmed in  evil  principles,  are  scarcely  with- 
in the  circle  of  our  endeavours,  it  is  equally 
true  that  the  children  are  both  accessible 

AND    SUSCEPTIBLE    OF    INFLUENCE.        Go    forth 

into  our  densely-peopled  streets  on  any 
sunny  afternoon  of  spring,  and  see  the 
swarms  of  little  ones,  —  the  jocund  but 
neglected  offspring  of  the  poor.  It  would 
be  a  novel  and  suggestive  sight  to  many 
amono;  us  who  confine  their  observation 
to  the  haunts  of  business  and  fashion.  The 
spectacle  is  enlivening,  and,  if  it  were  not 


28  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

for  the  after-thought  of  what  their  man- 
hood is  to  be,  would  be  delightful  and 
fraught  with  hope.  For  it  is  not  solely 
concerning  the  youth  of  aristocratic  Eton 
that  the  poet's  words  are  true:— 

"  Alas,  regardless  of  their  doom, 

The  litMe  victims  play  ! 
No  sense  have  they  of  ills  to  come, 

Nor  care  beyond  to-day. 
Yet  see  how  all  around  them  wait 
The  ministers  of  human  fate 

And  black  Misfortune's  baleful  train ! 
Ah,  show  them  where  in  ambush  stand, 
To  seize  their  prey,  the  murd'rous  band ! 

Ah  !  tell  them  they  are  men  !" 

Now,  from  any  one  of  these  groups,  by 
the  exercise  of  a  proper  Christian  effort, 
some  may  be  brought  under  instruction. 
Experience  has  proved  this.  Even  those 
who  at  the  first  solicitation  have  refused, 
turned  contemptuously  away,  and  even 
scoffed,  have  yielded  to  kind,  gentle  and 
winning   language.      There  is  hardly  one 


A    DEMAND.  29 

of  our  principal  towns  in  which  some  en- 
deavours have  not  been  made  to  gather 
street-rovers  into  *' Boys'  Meetings,"  and 
to  establish  "Eagged  Schools,"  resorts  for 
new^s-boys,  or  something  similar ;  and  there 
is  not  one  of  these  efforts  which  has  been 
without  encouragement.  It  is  this  pliable- 
ness  of  childhood  which  makes  it  the  proper 
subject  for  training;  just  as  it  is  the  same 
quality  in  the  flexible  vine  which  makes  us 
choose  it  to  be  led  along  our  arbours  and 
trellises.  "What  we  cannot  accomplish  with 
full-grown,  sturdy  sinners,  Ave  may  effect 
AA^th  their  tender  offspring.  Whether  in 
Christian  or  in  heathen  lands,  our  chief 
hope  for  the  future  diffusion  and  establish- 
ment of  religion  is  in  the  enlightening  and 
training  of  youth.  The  hope  of  the  church, 
the  hope  of  the  world,  is  that  portion  of  the 
race  which  is  this  day  in  the  mothers'  arms. 
If  we  cannot  remove  the  inveterate  malady 
of  hoary  transgressors,  we  may  rescue  the 

next   generation   by  preparatory  and   pre- 

3* 


30  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 

ventive  methods.  ''Satan,"  says  the  Rev. 
John  ITewton,  "proposes  to  fill  a  bushel 
with  tares ;  now,  I  thwart  him  if  I  can 
previously  fill  it  with  wheat."  In  the  in- 
fant mind  we  have  no  formal  errors  to  cor- 
rect, no  stubborn  prejudices  to  eradicate, 
no  compacted  systems  of  falsehood  to  batter 
down.  There  is  no  stage  of  human  exist- 
ence in  which  we  may  indulge  so  much 
hope  of  lasting  success.  We  all  habitually 
underrate  the  momentous  foundations  which 
are  laid  in  childhood.  Taking  the  world  at 
large,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  di- 
rection in  regard  to  morals  and  religion  is 
taken  with  most  before  the  age  of  ten  years. 
Innumerable  are  the  instances  in  which 
habits  of  falsehood,  or  duplicity,  or  con- 
cealment,— of  impurity,  idleness  and  dis- 
honesty,— of  anger,  revenge  and  violence, — 
are  settled  in  the  nursery,  or  in  those  squa- 
lid scenes  of  neglect  and  vice  which  in  the 
case  of  the  irreligious  poor  take  the  place 
of  the  nursery.     And    on  the  other  hand, 


A    DEMAND.  31 

even  if  conversion  do  not  immediately  en- 
sue, the  hapx^y  child  of  a  pious  home  or 
the  pupil  of  a  loving  instructor  receives 
those  first  lines  of  sacred  truth,  those  feel- 
ings of  reverence  for  God,  those  aspirations 
of  prayer,  those  convictions  of  conscience, 
which  prove,  in  the  hands  of  the  Spirit,  the 
steps  to  future  piety.  These  most  familiar 
considerations  urge  us  to  spread  wide  our 
appliances  of  early  culture  in  the  period 
when  the  ductile  mass  is  most  fully  within 
our  moulding  touch. 

V.  The  plain  consequence  of  what  has 
been  said  is,  that  as  the  childrejs  of  the 

PRESENT    day,    SUCH    WILL    BE    THE    MEN    AND 

WOMEN  or  THE  NEXT.  Harvest  is  the  in- 
fallible revealer  of  seed-time.  What  we 
sow  that  shall  we  also  reap.  If  we  aban- 
don this  immense  juvenile  population  to 
the  wanderings  of  ignorance,  the  propensi- 
ties of  vice,  and  the  machinations  of  Satan, 
we  may  assure  our  descendants  of  a  terrible 
retribution,  which  will  fall  not  only  on  a 


32  RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

dwindling  and  languishing  church,  but  on  a 
state  disordered,  corrupted  and  divided,  if 
not  overwhelmed.  To  destroy  a  common- 
wealth like  ours,  Avhich  draws  its  vital  sup- 
port from  intelligence  and  principle  in  the 
people,  we  have  onh'  to  reduce  the  com- 
mon mind  to  error  and  ungodliness.  The 
catastrophe  will  show  itself  not  only  in  de- 
caying grace,  but  in  risk  and  losses  of  pro- 
perty, civil  disruption  and  intestine  car- 
nage. The  ordinary  operation  of  Christian 
churches  affords  a  partial  barrier  against 
this  incoming  flood,  but  not  as  yet  ade- 
quate to  resist  the  rapids  of  false  opinion. 
And  if  education  be  neglected,  from  what 
quarter  is  the  church  itself  to  receive  sup- 
plies when  its  present  members  have  closed 
their  lives?  To  make  sure  and  precipitate 
every  national  evil  which  we  dread,  nothing 
more  is  needed  tlian  inactivity  and  a  supine 
determination  to  let  the  millions  of  existing 
youth  grow  up  without  care  and  discipline. 
There  may,  by  the  sovereign  interposition 


A   DEMAND.  33 

of  Providence,  be  remarkable  exceptions 
in  individual  cases,  and  here  and  there  a 
raging  Saul  may  be  arrested  in  his  maturity 
and  made  a  servant  of  good ;  but,  on  the 
large  scale,  the  character  of  the  next  age 
may  be  read  in  the  character  of  those  who 
are  children  now.  God  can  work  miracles ; 
bat  where  he  has  intrusted  us  with  certain 
means,  we  may  not  count  upon  his  reversal 
of  every  law  which  prevails  in  the  world  of 
mind  and  morals. 

The  other  side  of  this  picture  of  possi- 
bilities is  too  cheering  to  be  altogether 
withheld.  Train  up,  even  in  part,  the 
juvenile  host  which  is  rising  all  over  the 
land,  and  when  they  are  old  they  shall  be 
the  stay  and  the  glory  of  the  next  genera- 
tion. From  one  end  of  the  land  to  the 
other  there  will  be  men  firm  in  truth, 
settled  in  principle  and  armed  for  such 
conflicts  as  Providence  may  ordain. 

VI.  The  force  of  these  truths  has  not 

BEEN  ENTIRELY  UNFELT  BY  STATESMEN  AND  PC- 


34  RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

LiTiciANS ;  and  hence  the  schemes  of  public 
education  which  have  been  proj  ected  in  many 
countries  and  established  in  various  States  of 
our  own  republic.  When  I  say  that  these  do 
not  attain  to  the  utmost  of  what  we  need, 
it  is  with  no  intention  of  disparaging  these 
institutions.  Free  education  for  the  people 
is  a  sublime  conception  and  a  really  pa- 
triotic work.  The  structure  in  the  State  of 
which  I  am  a  citizen  is  more  glorious  than 
the  pyramids.  When  foreigners  and  other 
strangers  visit  our  cities,  when  they  gaze  at 
the  architecture  of  our  merchants, — more 
beautiful  and  costly  every  year, — when  they 
survey  our  forests  of  shipping,  our  empo- 
riums of  trade,  our  repositories  of  indus- 
trial and  tasteful  art,  they  too  often  leave 
unsought  an  object  of  more  just  wonder 
and  more  attractive  loveliness, — our  public 
SCHOOLS.  And  we  cannot  refrain  from  re- 
cording the  delight  with  which  we  lately 
contemplated  the  newly-opened  Female 
School    in   Twentieth   Street,   New  York. 


A    DEMAND.  35 

When  we  saw  some  six  hundred  gn-ls  listen- 
ing to  the  word  of  God  at  the  opening  of  the 
services, — when  we  observed  this  great  and 
beautiful  assembly,  not  in  irregular  variety 
of  position,  not  showing  disrespect  by  sit- 
ting in  prayer,  but  all  in  a  posture  of  devo- 
tion, all  with  downcast  eyes,  all  uniting  as 
with  one  voice, — when  we  could  detect  no 
averted  face  or  eye,  no  smile  or  whisper, 
and  all  this  under  the  biddiug  of  a  young 
and  modest  woman, — we  thought  how  much 
we  had  yet  to  learn  in  Sunday-schools,  and 
especially  how  much  our  common  schools 
might  be  embellished  and  sanctified  by  that 
due  admixture  of  religion  which  a  Christian 
people  have  a  right  to  demand.  Each  of 
those  capacious  edifices,  filled  with,  not 
scores,  but  hundreds  of  children,  under  the 
tuition  of  capable  teachers,  is  a  hive  of 
sweets  for  the  coming  winter  of  distress ; 
and  the  hum  of  infant  voices  is  a  music 
that  goes  to  the  soul  and  preludes  hope? 
for  American  prosperity.    Whatever  defects 


36  RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

may  exist,  we  bless  G-ocl  for  the  institution 
and  would  wish  it  perpetuity.  Far  be  it 
from  us  or  ours,  under  any  pretext  of  reli- 
gion, to  lay  on  it  the  ruthless  hand  of  spo- 
liation. Far  be  it  from  the  Christians  of 
America  to  withdraw  from  it  that  support 
and  influence  which,  by  God's  blessing,  may 
yet  avail  to  modify  what  is  erroneous  and 
supply  what  is  wanting,  l^o  tongue  can 
express  the  benefit  which  is  conferred  on 
this  extraordinary  array  of  youthful  minds. 
In  some  respects  the  school  leaves  its  im- 
press even  more  powerfully  than  the  home. 
Witness  this  every  day  in  a  particular  in- 
stance. Visit  the  humble  dwelling  of  the 
foreigner  lately  an  emigrant,  and  you  will 
observe  with  surprise  that,  while  the  parents 
are  almost  totally  ignorant  of  our  language, 
the  children  read  and  speak  English  as  well 
as  their  American  playmates,  and  without 
a  vestige  of  foreign  accent.  In  less  appre- 
ciable points  the  influence  is  equally  great, 
and  it  should  arouse  us  to  consider  the  in- 


A   DEMAND.  37 

calculable  formative  power  of  a  well-ordered 
school.  What  might  it  not  be  if  the  sys- 
tem of  teaching  were  not  one-sided  and  mu- 
tilated? After  these  willing  concessions, 
we  are  constrained  to  declare  that  our  State 
schools,  with  all  their  power  and  all  their 
secular  advantages,  fail  of  the  object  which 
we  hold  to  be  paramount,  because  they  lack 
the  religious  element.  If  education  is  the 
training  of  the  whole  nature  for  usefulness 
and  happiness,  then  is  that  an  incomplete 
system  which  ignores  our  ruined  state,  our 
means  of  recovery  and  our  evangelical 
duty.  As  the  State,  according  to  doctrines 
lately  avowed,  has  no  religion  and  can  fa- 
vour none,  the  schools  which  are  its  crea- 
tures refuse  to  teach  that  which  is  secta- 
rian. And  under  this  designation  they  are 
pleased  to  comprehend  not  only  the  creeds 
of  the  respective  sects,  but  that  holy  docu- 
ment which  is  the  avowed  basis  of  all.  In 
these  nurseries  of  the  next  generation,  be- 
loved youth  may  be  taught  the  rudiments 


38  RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

of  literature  and  science,  but  not  a  word 
respecting  God's  revelation  of  redeeming 
love,  the  atoning  work  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  consolations  of  the  gospel,  the 
history  of  the  church,  or  the  means  of  es- 
caping sin  and  misery.     They  may  freely 
inculcate  all  that  relates  to  the  present  brief 
mortality ;  but  they  must  not  breathe  a  syl- 
lable of  devotion.     As  a  general  truth,  the 
individual  teacher,  however  sincerely  a  child 
of  God,  may  not  gather  around  him  his  in- 
teresting charge  to  unite  in  prayer  to  their 
God  and  Saviour.     According  to  authorita- 
tive interpretation  of  the  law,  he  must  ex- 
clude God's  word  from  being  read  or  heard. 
The  Mohammedan  or  the  Hindoo  child  may 
enjoy  the  use  of  his  religious  books  ;  but 
in  a  land  where  the  majority  are  Christian 
and  ^Protestant,  the   little   one   must  pass 
through  his  years  of  training  with  a  signifi- 
cant and  portentous  silence  on  that  point 
which  above  all  others  is  important.     On 
this  view  of  the  system,  we  must  cast  out 


A   DEMAND.  89 

that  book  which.  God  has  given  as  the  rule 
of  man's  faith  and  conduct;  that  book 
which  contains  all  that  distinguishes  us 
from  heathen  and  unbelievers ;  that  book 
which  all  religious  denominations  agree  to 
receive  as  true  and  fundamental ;  that  book 
which  eminent  jurists  have  held  to  be  re- 
cognised in  the  common  law;  that  book 
which  we  are  striving  to  carry  to  every 
hamlet  and  home, — which  is  clasped  to  the 
bosom  of  the  sufferer  and  pillows  the  head 
of  the  dying.  Out  with  it !  It  is  sectarian. 
Though  inspired  of  God,  though  fraught 
with  truth  and  wisdom,  though  necessary 
to  the  formation  of  character  and  the  safety 
of  the  soul,  though  eminently  fitted  to  the 
spring-tide  of  life, — out  with  it !  On  some 
plea  of  difference  in  its  exposition,  or  of 
some  microscopic  diversities  in  translation, 
it  is  voted  sectarian.  Out  with  it  I  Let  no 
verse  of  what  God  has  spoken  be  uttered  to 
tens  of  thousands  of  children  from  the 
week's  beginning  to  its  end.     'Now,  I  will 


40  RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

not  pause  to  establish  what  I  nevertheless 
believe, — that  a  clear  majority  of  American 
Christian  parents  have  a  right  to  demand 
that  this  sun  of  the  spiritual  heaven  should 
not  be  shut  off  from  the  minds  of  their  off- 
spring,— nor  yet  to  show  that,  in  a  system  ol 
training,  the  studious  suppression  of  a  whole 
body  of  truth,  and  that  the  most  important, 
may  work  wide-spread  disaster,  even  if 
there  be  no  inculcation  of  error ;  bat  I  shall 
have  general  concurrence  in  the  simple  con- 
clusion that  schools  which  exclude  or  omit  all 
that  is  spiritual  and  evangelical  are  not  the 
means  which  can  train  up  the  rising  race  in  the 
way  ivhich  we  have  found  to  be  necessary, 

YII.  By  what  means,  then,  can  we  so 
TRAIN  THEM  UP  ?  for  tMs  is  the  question 
which  now  forces  itself  upon  our  attention. 
Do  you  say  that  religious  instruction  is  a 
household  matter  and  must  be  left  to  the 
conscience  and  care  of  parents?  This 
miffht  be  a  suitable  answer  in  the  mouths 
of  worldly  legislators  and  committees ;  but 


A    DEMAXD.  41 

it  cannot  satisfy  the  heart  of  Christian  phi- 
lanthropy. The  children  of  pious  people 
are  likely  to  do  well ;  but,  alas !  the  propor- 
tion of  such  is  not  great  in  the  community. 
Do  you  say  that  religious  instruction  is  the 
business  of  the  church  ?  We  admit  it,  and 
should  rejoice  to  see  every  congregation,  of 
every  creed,  furnished  with  a  school  in 
which  the  Bible  and  the  formularies  of  our 
faith  might  be  taught  and  explained;  but 
in  neither  of  these  methods  do  we  reach 
that  vast  accumulation  of  want  which  con- 
fessedly lies  without  the  limits  of  domestic 
and  parochial  faithfulness.  What  we  re- 
quire—  what  is  indispensable  to  the  tho- 
rough leavening  of  the  corrupt  mass — is  a 
wddely  diffusive  influence,  which  shall  extend 
itself  to  the  outcast  children  of  the  poor; 
to  those  who  have  no  parents,  or  unnatural, 
ungodly  parents;  to  those  who  have  no 
churches  and  who  care  for  none ;  to  the  ab- 
lect  of  the  city,  the  mountain,  and  the 
wilderness.     The  necessity  is  urgent;  the 

4^ 


12  RELiaiOUS    EDUCATION 

peril  is  at  the  door.  We  must  have  ap- 
pliances which  shall  be  further-reaching 
than  the  church,  and  thus  preparatoiy  to 
the  church. 

Let  ns  not  be  misled  by  the  fallacy  that 
no  good  thing  can  be  accomplished  except 
in  our  church  capacity.  In  a  mixed  and 
unevangelized  population,  there  are  a  hun- 
dred means  to  be  used  in  order  to  bring 
men  within  the  influence  of  the  church. 
And,  in  every  sound,  evangelical,  and  ca- 
tholic sense,  that  is  done  by  the  church 
which  is  done  by  Christian  men,  though  of 
different  communions,  united  for  the  holy 
purpose  of  diff'using  the  knowledge  of 
Christ.  A  great,  a  combined,  a  universal 
crusade  must  be  proclaimed  against  igno- 
rance and  falsehood. 

Vni.  And  this  brings  us,  naturally  and 
immediately,  to.  the  expedient  of  Suxd ay- 
schools,  which  we  confidently  uphold  as 

THE    BEST    MEANS    AS    YET    DEVISED    FOR    THE 
RAPID  AND   SUCCESSFUL   INSTRUCTION  AND  SAL- 


I 


A   DEMAND.  43 

VATION  OF  THE  MULTITUDES  WHO  ARE  PERISH- 
ING FOR  LACK  OF  KNOWLEDGE.  [N'ot  One  Syl- 
lable need  be  expended  on  the  description 
or  history  of  this  institution :  it  is  known 
and  read  of  all  men.  We  do  not  propound 
it  as  a  substitute  for  family  instruction : 
God  forbid.  If  such  were  its  tendency  it 
would  not  be  a  blessing,  but  a  curse.  We 
do  not  hold  it  up  as  rendering  unnecessary 
parochial  day-schools  in  connection  with 
churches.  We  pretend  not  that  for  general 
and  secular  ends  it  can  compete  with  com- 
mon schools ;  but  we  affirm,  after  long  ob- 
servation, that  in  a  population  like  our  own 
it  affords  the  happiest,  and  in  many  cases 
the  only,  means  of  reaching  that  teeming 
multitude  who,  but  for  instant  aid,  must  be 
abandoned  to  irreligion. 

Some  are  alarmed  at  the  principle  of 
union  in  regard  to  this  enterprise.  Even 
if  there  were  any  thing  questionable  in 
this,  let  it  be  distinctly  stated  that,  as  to 
the  practical  details  of  any  individual  school, 


44  RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

there  is  no  union  except  where  the  alterna- 
tives are  a  school  in  union  or  no  school  at 
all.  In  the  schools  of  any  large  congrega- 
tion, for  example,  there  is  no  compromise 
whatever.  We  teach  our  pupils  our  cate- 
chisms and  doctrines.  But  put  the  case  of 
a  school  among  the  clearings  of  Nebraska. 
Here  are  fifty  urchins  from  a  circle  of  five 
miles'  radius,  half  of  no  sect  and  the  other 
half  of  five  or  six.  JS^ow  the  problem  is 
fairly  before  us.  Shall  we  wait  till  one 
denomination  can  bring  over  all  the  rest? 
shall  we  in  the  face  of  heaven  set  up  five 
or  six  separate  banners  ?  or  shall  we  band 
together  and  teach  that  common  Chris- 
tianity in  which  we  are  agreed?  And  if 
we  may  so  band  together,  may  not  be- 
lievers whom  God  has  blessed  unite  all 
over  the  land  in  sending  support  to  these 
struggling  outposts,  and  in  founding  new 
ones  ?  If  you  say  yes,  you  stamp  with 
your  approbation  the  American  Sunday- 
school  Union. 


A    DEMAND.  45 

The  reason  why  this  institution  from 
time  to  time  asks  aid  from  the  Christian 
public  is,  that  it  is  a  great  missionary  so- 
ciety, having  for  its  field  the  infant  world. 
Not  content  with  those  schools  which  clus- 
ter around  existing  religious  societies,  it 
would  plant  its  healthful  growths  in  the 
waste  places  of  city  and  country  where 
churches  are  as  yet  unknown.  It  throws 
forward  a  light  infantry  which  can  pene- 
trate far  beyond  the  advance  of  heavy 
columns.  The  groups  which  it  gathers  in 
the  log-hut  of  the  "Western  plain  or  forest 
receive  the  gospel  even  before  the  arrival 
of  a  minister;  and,  in  cases  beyond  our 
reckoning.  Sabbath-schools  have  been  the 
germs  of  Christian  congregations. 

A  guiding  ray  of  hope  breaks  in  upon 
our  darkened  prospect  when  we  consider 
what  the  associated  benevolence  of  our 
country  might  effect  if  it  were  only  to  con- 
centrate its  efforts  on  the  religious  training 
of  the  young.     We  seem  to  behold  an  in- 


46  RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

numerable  arm}-  rising  in  its  strength  and 
unity  to  do  battle  against  the  man  of  sin 
and  the  infidel  assaults  of  philosophy  falsely 
so  called;  from  very  childhood  knowing 
those  Sunday-schools  which  Popery  on  one 
hand  and  scepticism  on  the  other  would 
wrench  from  the  hand  of  education;  im- 
bued with  those  doctrines  which  save  the 
soul ;  begirt  with  that  harness  whereby  the 
man  of  God  is  thoroughly  furnished  unto 
all  good  works  ;  instructed  in  the  rules  and 
trained  in  the  habits  of  a  pure  Christian 
ethics;  and  in  a  multitude  of  blessed  in- 
stances actually  called  of  God  and  purified 
by  the  laver  of  regeneration  and  the  re- 
newing of  the  Holy  Ghost.  There  is  no 
work  of  man  which  is  more  seasonable ;  for 
it  lays  hold  on  its  material  at  the  nick  of 
time.  There  is  none  of  which  the  fruits 
have  already  been  so  large.  Already  we 
begin  to  estimate  results,  and  to  discrimi- 
nate in  society  a  marked  portion,  as  those 
who  have  come   out  of  the   discipline  of 


A    DEMAND.  47 

Sabbath-schools.  Tell  me  not  of  a  genera- 
tion reared  in  the  highest  civil  and  secular 
culture  ;  these  might,  nevertheless,  be  revo- 
lutionary traitors  or  atheistic  enemies  of 
Jesus.  Give  us  a  nation  nurtured  at  the 
breasts  which  flow  with  the  sincere  milk 
of  the  word ;  or,  if  our  faith  reach  not  the 
stature  of  a  wish  which  seems  to  presuppose 
millennial  illumination,  give  us  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  heaving  mass,  deeply  tinc- 
tured with  God's  truth,  as  shall  leave  no 
region  of  our  fearfully-extended  territory 
without  its  young  and  strong  and  influen- 
tial believers,  sending  the  savour  of  evan- 
gelical godliness  on  every  side.     Training 

THE    YOUNa    IS    PREACHING    THE    GOSPEL.       If 

great  and  sublime  deeds  are  to  be  wrought 
by  any  race,  shall  it  not  be  by  that  which 
has  had  expended  on  it  especial  care  and 
faithfulness  in  the  forming-period  of  child- 
hood ?  Before  the  Lord  come,  he  shall  turn 
the  heart  of  the  fathers  to  the  children,  and 
the  heart  of  the  children  to  their  fathers, 


48         RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION    A    DEMAND. 

lest  he  come  and  smite  the  earth  with  a 
curse.  Ye  that  love  the  face  of  infant 
beauty, — ye  that  cherish  your  own  beloved 
ones  with  unutterable  yearnings, — ye  that 
count  all  that  is  human  near  to  your  bo- 
soms,— have  mercy  on  the  offspring  of  the 
poor,  the  deluded  and  the  lost !  And  may 
God  dispose  and  enable  you  to  urge  for- 
ward this  work  of  Christian  education  with 
a  fervency  of  co-operative  zeal  such  as  has 
had  no  precedent. 


CHAPTER  n. 

CHILDREN  INTRUSTED  TO  US  TO  BE  TRAINED 
FOR  GOD  AND  OUR  COUNTRY. 

"We  have  opened  the  way  for  the  discus- 
sion which  awaits  us,  by  considering  reli- 
gious education  as  demanded  by  the  actual 
condition  of  American  society.  The  dis- 
aster consequent  on  irreligious  ignorance 
stared  us  in  the  face,  and  we  were  dis- 
heartened to  find  how  slender  were  our 
means  of  remed3\  Our  profligate  popula- 
tion in  town  and  country  passed  before 
our  view  in  all  their  alarming  potency  for 
evil,  but  at  the  same  time  as  drifting  more 
and  more  away  from  the  influence  of  the 
church.  While  this  is  painfully  true  of 
those  who  have  grown  to  manhood,  it  is 
not  absolutely  subversive  of  our  hopes  ;  for 

6  49 


50  THE    TRAINING    OF 

we  can  reach,  the  mind  of  childhood  and 
we  can  train  it.  On  these  grounds  we 
maintained  the  necessity  of  an  education 
other  than  that  afforded  by  our  common 
schools. 

So  much  is  undoubtedly  true  in  the  con- 
sideration of  American  children  and  youth 
as  such.  But  there  is  a  closer  and  more 
tender  view  of  the  same  object;  for  we 
may  look  on  them  as  our  own  children,  ai^d 
thus  devise  a  new  argument,  in  regard  to  a 
L^rge  and  important  portion  of  the--  race, 
from  their  relation  to  us  as  parents.  Re- 
£:ard  for  children  and  children's  children 
is  proper  to  humanity  and  is  strengthened 
by  true  religion;  as  when  the  Psalmist 
prays  "that  our  sons  may  be  as  plants 
grown  up  in  their  youth ;  that  our  daugh- 
ters may  be  as  corner-stones,  polished  after 
the  similitude  of  a  palace."*  If  all  be  right 
with  our  sons  and  daughters  there  need  be 


■••'■  Psalm  cxliv'.  12. 


OUR    SONS    AND    DAUGHTERS.  51 

110  fear  for  the  United  States.  The  greatest 
blessino^  we  can  confer  on  the  common- 
wealth  is  to  leave  behind  iis  a  generation 
of  right-minded  youth.  If  it  is  trite,  it  is 
nevertheless  important  enough  to  bear  a 
thousandfold  repetition  and  inculcation,  that 
well-trained  youth  are  the  hope  not  only 
of  our  nation,  but  of  all  nations.  In  this 
era  of  highways,  commerce,  telegraphs  and 
the  press,  all  nations  are  in  certain  great 
respects  tending  to "  be  one.  The  rising 
race  is  the  hope  of  the  coming  peo]3les  of 
the  earth.  After  hearing  and  saying  this 
for  3'ears,  we  feel  it  more  than  ever,  when, 
turning  to  our  own  children,  we  see  in 
them  the  hope  of  mankind.  I  have  always 
regarded  these  parental  sensibihties  as  af- 
fording one  of  the  readiest  means  of  en- 
trance to  the  affections  of  Christian  people 
for  the  purpose  of  marshalling  them  in 
behalf  of  education  and  the  country.  The 
genuine  citadel  of  Christian  education  is 
the  heart  of  parents  ;  and  there  is  no  parent 


52  THE    TRAINING    OF 

who  docs  not  exercise  incalculable  power. 
He  who  has  children,  wards,  or  x^upils,  or 
any  whom  he  may  mould  or  shape,  need 
never  complain  that  his  sphere  of  influence 
is  small,  or  that  he  has  no  means  of  leav- 
ing his  mark  on  the  coming  age.  As  well 
might  a  man  lament  that  he  had  no  share 
in  the  hydraulic  power  of  a  district  who 
should  sit  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  to 
guide  by  his  hand  the  spring  that  was  pre- 
sently to  become  the  propelling  river  of  a 
thousand  manufactures. 

The  Scriptures  rank  it  among  the 
blackest  sins  to  be  ivithoui  natural  affec- 
tion. It  is  one  of  the  crimes  which  even 
the  heathen  and  the  infidel  are  ashamed 
of,  and  which  is  rebuked  by  the  very 
beasts.  But  no  words  can  at  all  express 
the  profound  anxieties  of  pious  parents 
for  their  children.  When  one  comes  to 
experience  these  anxieties,  he  is  surprised. 
Having  been  told  a  thousand  times  how 
it  would  be,  he    now    for    the   first    time 


OUR    SONS   AND    DAUGHTERS.  53 

knows  what  it  is  to  believe  it.  He  lias 
knowledge  of  it.  He  recalls  the  incre- 
dulity and  wonder  with  which,  when  a 
boy,  he  regarded  his  parents  in  respect  to 
this  solicitude,  and  how  repeatedly  he 
put  that  unkno^Mi  sensibility  to  the  test. 
How  often  did  he  inflict  immedicable 
wounds  on  those  hearts,  which,  now  that 
he  has  become  a  parent  himself,  he  begins 
first  to  comprehend !  His  soul  is  now 
bound  up  in  those  whom  God  is  giving 
him.  Or,  if  we  turn  our  eye  to  her  who 
is  pre-eminently  the  parent,  if  one  can  earn 
the  title  by  intensity  of  pain  and  love,  the 
mother  has  a  tenderness  towards  her  off- 
spring which  she  has  long  since  con- 
cluded to  bury  in  silence,  or  utter  only  in 
prayers,  since  she  well  knows  no  language 
of  her's  can  ever  express  it. 

What  a  mercy  it  is  that  our  God  has 
been  pleased  to  make  much  of  religion 
consist  in  these  very  feelings  and  to  open 

a  channel  for  these  unutterable  emotions ! 

5* 


54  THE    TRAINING    OF 

Do  not  wonder,  therefore,  that,  with  un- 
usual confidence,  I  propose  to  the  reader  a 
modification  of  what  was  discussed  before : 
—  Our   sons   and    daughters   are   to    be 

TRAINED    FOR   ChRIST  AND   FOR   THE   COUNTRY. 

As  for  us  who  now  write  or  read,  we 
shall  be  here  but  a  little  while.  The 
thought  of  this  was  plainly  in  the  Psalm- 
ist's mind  when  he  sang,  ''Man  is  like 
to  vanity:  his  days  are  as  a  shadow  that 
passeth  away."*  The  last  mark  on  our 
dial  will  soon  be  reached,  and  then  comes 
night.  But  oh,  parents,  while  it  will  be 
night  with  us,  (and  that  how  shortly!)  here 
are  those  who  shall  be  then  just  entering 
on  their  working-day.  And  can  we  be  in- 
different as  to  the  manner  in  which  they 
shall  fulfil  their  task?  Can  we  fail  to 
offer  prayers  like  those  of  the  saint  and 
king  already  cited?  Can  we  venture  to 
bring  up  our  children  without  offering  such 


*  Pealm  cxliv.  4, 


OUR    SONS   AND    DAUGHTERS.  55 

prayers  in  our  families?  Can  we  hazard 
the  consequences  of  letting  their  whole 
childhood  and  youth  pass  without  their 
even  recognising  us  as  professed  followers 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  ?  Can  we  willingly  de- 
prive them  of  all  that  benefit  which  they 
might  derive  from  beholding  us  at  the 
Lord's  table  ? — a  benefit,  perhaps,  which  we 
ourselves  derived  from  the  example  of  our 
own  parents. 

We  are  under  obligatmis,  as  believers,  to 
educate  our  children  for  the  Lord;  and  in 
doiog  this  we  are  to  seize  every  oppor- 
tunity, from  their  earliest  years,  to  remind 
them  that  their  names  have  been  given 
to  Christ,  that  the^^  owe  him  allegiance, 
that  they  are  enlisted  in  his  army  and 
are  to  fight  under  his  colours.  As  they 
advance  a  little  towards  early  youth,  we 
are  to  renew  and  redouble  these  impres- 
sions, assuring  them  that  they  stand  in 
a  different  relation  to  the  church  from 
other  young  persons ;  that  they  can  never 


56  THE    TRAINING    OF 

destroy  the  providential  connection  except 
by  rebellion  or  apostasy ;  and  that  every 
hour  they  live  for  the  world  they  are  rob- 
bino^  Christ  of  his  own.  This  we  should 
teach  them ;  and,  if  we  begin  early  and 
continue  unremittingly,  we  shall  certainly 
and  fully  escape  that  shyness  in  regard  to 
relisrion  which  makes  it  harder  for  some 
parents  to  speak  to  their  own  children 
than  to  all  persons  beside.  The  great  mat- 
ter, however,  which  I  urge,  is  the  delibe- 
rate intent  of  the  parent  respecting  the 
child's  training.  "This  child  is  Christ's; 
and  for  Christ's  warfare  have  I  entered 
him  and  am  now  rearing  him.  God  grant 
that  he  may  grow  up  as  a  young  tree 
planted  in  the  courts  of  the  Lord! — that 
she  may  shine  as  the  brilliant  corner-stone 
of  the  palace  or  the  altar!" 

A  great  story  of  ancient  times  can  never 
lose  its  force.  Let  me,  therefore,  recall  to 
your  minds  the  familiar  incident  which  we 
derive  from  Livy  concerning  the   mighty 


OUR   SONS   AND    DAUGHTERS.  57 

]^apoleon  of  his  day, — Hannibal.  When 
his  father  was  about  to  go  into  Spain, 
where  the  war  against  Rome  was  then 
waging,  the  child  was  about  nine  years  of 
age ;  and,  playing  about  his  father's  knees, 
as  loving  children  do,  he  begged  Hamilcar 
to  take  him  along.  The  stern  and  vindic- 
tive old  man,  who  was  just  engaged  in 
sacrificing,  conducted  little  Hannibal  to  the 
altar,  caused  him  to  lay  his  hand  on  the 
holy  things,  and  made  him  swear  that  at 
the  earliest  possible  moment,  and  as  long 
as  he  lived,  he  would  be  the  foe  of  Rome. 
Every  reader  knows  the  rest ;  and,  though 
we  condemn  the  idolatry,  the  revenge  and 
the  bloodshed,  we  gather  the  moral  lesson : 
— K  our  sons  are  to  quit  themselves  like 
men,  we  must  early  swear  them  at  Christ's 
altar ;  we  must  remind  them  of  their 
early  prayers  and  resolves,  and  direct  their 
eye  to  the  great  end  of  all  their  studies, 
labours  and  life, —  the  doing  battle  for 
Christ.     There  is  no  room  for  doubt:  the 


o8  THE    TRAINING    OP 

reason  why  so  many  children  of  the  church 
grow  up  unconverted  is  that  we,  their  pa- 
rents, do  not  keep  perpetually  before  our 
minds,  in  their  education,  this  one  object, 
to  wit :  thai  they  are  to  be  trained  for  Christ. 
Both  parent  and  child  should  be  made  to 
remember  it  every  day:  such  a  remem- 
brance will  go  far  to  form  the  character. 

Having  told  a  heathen  story,  let  me  tell 
a  Christian  one.  It  concerns  Pniiiip  Henry, 
the  father  of  Matthew  Henry,  the  good  and 
brilliant  commentator, —  two  of  the  most 
eminent  divines  of  England.  This  wise 
and  holy  man  was  accustomed  to  teach  his 
children  the  following  form  of  words : — 

"I  take  God  to  be  my  chiefest  good  and 
highest  end.  I  take  Christ  to  be  my  Prince 
and  Saviour.  I  take  the  Holy  Ghost  to  be 
my  Sanctifier,  Teacher,  Guide,  and  Com- 
forter. I  take  the  word  of  God  to  be  my 
rule  in  all  my  actions,  and  the  people  of 
God  to  be  my  people  in  all  conditions.  I 
do  likewise  devote  and  dedicate  unto  the 


OUR    SONS    AND    DAUGHTERS.  59 

Lord  my  whole  self,  all  I  am,  all  I  have,  and 
all  I  can  do.  And  this  I  do  deliberately, 
sincerely,  freely  and  forever." 

His  son,  who  wrote  his  life,  says,  ^'This 
he  taught  his  children;  and  they,  each  of 
them,  solemnly  repeated  it  every  Lord's 
day  in  the  evening,  after  they  were  cate- 
chized,—  he  putting  his  Amen  to  it,  and 
sometimes  adding,  'So  say  and  so  do,  and 
you  are  made  forever!'"  I  have  read  of 
no  family  in  which  grace  more  remarkably 
reigned.  It  pleased  God  that  "  all  his  chil- 
dren were  disposed  of  into  cu'cumstances 
very  agreeable  and  comfortable,  both  for 
life  and  godliness."  Li  his  last  will  and 
testament  this  is  the  prayer  which  (David- 
like) good  Philip  Henry  puts  up  for  his 
children: — "That  the  Lord  would  build 
them  up  in  holiness  and  continue  them 
still  in  brotherly  love,  as  a  bundle  of  ar- 
rows which  cannot  be  broken." 

These  children,  be  they  more  or  fewer, 
whom  God  has  given  us,  we  are  solemnly 


60  THE    TRAIXIN(J    OF 

bound  to  bring  up  for  bim.  And,  if  more 
of  us  were  engaged  in  so  doing,  we  sbould 
see  larger  accessions  to  tbe  ministry  of 
reconciliation.  In  regard  to  tbis  import- 
ant point  of  dedicating  our  sons  to  tbe 
work  of  Cbristianity,  tbere  bave  been  two 
extremes  of  error.  1.  Tbe  ancient  one 
was  tbe  error  of  bringing  up  sons  for 
tbe  ministry  witbout  regard  to  personal 
piety.  Parents  designated  tbis  or  tbat 
boy  for  tbe  ministry.  AYben  tbis  designa- 
tion was  unaccompanied  by  sedulous  care 
for  tbe  soul,  tbe  consequence  naturally  was 
tbe  introduction  of  many  cold  and  some 
profane  persons  into  tbe  sacred  office.  2. 
Tbe  modern  error  is  just  tbe  opposite :  it  is 
tbe  extreme  of  neglecting  to  dedicate  our 
sons  at  all, — suffering  tbem  to  grow  up  with- 
out any  particular  care  as  to  tbe  bent  of 
tbeir  mind,  or  any  guidance  in  tbe  cboice 
of  a  profession.  Tbe  tendency  for  a  wbole 
lifetime   is   often    taken    and    fixed   mucb 


OUR    SONS    AND    DAUGHTERS.  01 

earlier  than  we  suppose.  The  infant  Han- 
nihal  burns  with  a  passion  which  urges  him 
till  his  dying  day.  The  day  was  when  it 
was  thought  so  great  an  honour  to  pro- 
claim the  salvation  of  Christianity,  that 
pious  mothers  wept  and  prayed  over  the 
subject,  and  gave  the  Master  no  rest  until 
he  had  adopted  their  offspring  into  his 
family.  It  is  possible  that  here  we  have, 
in  part,  the  cause  why  the  number  of  can- 
didates for  the  ministry  is  so  small. 
,  Very  far,  however,  is  it  from  being  true 
that  it  is  only  by  being  ministers  that  our 
children  can  serve  Christ.  By  no  means. 
Both  our  sons  and  daughters  may  be  me- 
morable through  future  ages  for  usefulness 
and  happiness  in  that  service  of  the  church 
which  belongs  to  private  Christians.  "Our 
sons  may  be  as  plants  grown  up  in  their 
youth."  Is  not  this  in  the  promise ?  "Thy 
children  like  olive-plants  round  about  thy 
table.      Behold,   thus    shall    the    man    be 

6 


62  THE    TRAINING    OF 

blessed  that  fearetli  the  Lord."  Observe 
what  follows : — "  The  Lord  shall  bless  thee 
out  of  Zion,  and  thou  shalt  see  the  good  of 
Jerusalem  all  the  days  of  thy  life."*  Here, 
then,  as  in  the  text,  public  prosperity  is  dis- 
tinctly connected  with  the  offspring  of  the 
church.  The  figure  employed  in  this  pas- 
sage sets  forcibly  before  our  minds  the  boy 
of  promise.  He  grows  up  like  a  favoured 
and  nurtured  plant.  Even  in  j^outh  he 
attains  some  of  that  stature  and  ripeness 
which  satisfies  hope.  He  is  instructed  in 
sound  knowledge.  His  mind  is  filled  wnth 
truth.  Like  Timothy,  he  learns  God's  holy 
word  from  his  very  infancy.  Even  wdien 
still  a  boy,  like  youthful  Josiah,  he  seeks 
the  Lord ;  like  youthful  Jacob,  he  vows  to 
him ;  like  youthful  David,  he  communes 
with  him,  sings  to  him  and  triumphs  by 
him.  Such  a  young  man  is  lovely  in  the 
eyes  of  the  church ;  and,  when  Jesus  looks 


*  Psalm  cxxviii. 


OUR    SONS    AXD    DAUGHTERS.  63 

on  him,  he  loves  him.     Such  a  one  should 
we  desire  each  of  our  sons  to  be. 

As  the  training  hand  of  the  gardener  is 
necessary  for  the  tender  plant,  so  the  i^er- 
petual  influence  of  Christian  training  is  re- 
quisite for  the  son  of  the  church,  that  he 
may  so  grow  up  as  to  be  a  blessing  to  it  and 
to  the  world.  It  is  a  training  which  must 
begin  from  the  very  earliest  years ;  and  its 
influence  must  not  be  omitted  for  a  single 
day  or  hour.  Let  it  be  considered  that,  in 
educating  our  sons  to  be  fruitful  in  the  com- 
ing generation,  we  have  very  much  such  a 
task  as  if  we  were  commanded  to  rear  a  deli- 
cate exotic  plant  in  our  harsh  climate.  Al- 
most every  thing  external  is  against  us.  A 
large  part  of  what  we  have  to  da  concerns 
the  formation  of  habits.  Habits  are  slowly 
formed,  but  it  is  for  life.  They  are  deeply 
settled  in  early  childhood.  Some  people 
seem  to  make  it  their  maxim  of  education 
that  the  great  thing  is  to  give  knowledge  : 
a  vastly  more   important   thing  is  to  give 


64  THE    TKAIXIXG    OF 

habits.  With  good  habits  of  mind,  know-- 
ledge  may  be  a  matter  of  self-acquisition ; 
but  the  converse  is  not  always  true.  With 
good  habits  of  the  spirit,  especially  those 
which  belong  to  the  "new  creature,"  all 
that  is  needed  for  usefulness  and  happiness 
will  come  in  the  train.  The  greatest  favour 
we  can  ask  of  God  for  our  sons  is  that  they 
be  converted.  An  early  renewal  of  their 
minds  should  be  the  subject  of  our  per- 
petual supplication. 

Reverting  to  a  verse  which  we  quoted 
from  the  hundred  and  forty-fourth  Psalm, 
we  find  that  David  does  not  overlook  the 
gentler  sex: — "  that  our  daughters  may  be  as 
corner-stones,  polished  after  the  similitude 
of  a  palace."  Here  are  solidity  and  orna- 
ment. The  architecture  which  was  in  his 
mind  w^as  that  of  kings'  houses,  which  is 
of  the  most  massive  and  costly  sort.  The 
stones  of  the  corner  are  the  most  honoured, 
the  most  conspicuous  and  the  most  useful: 
no  part  of  the  structure  gains  more  atten- 


OUR    SONS    AND    DAUGHTERS.  85 

tion,  none  deserves  greater  embellislimeut. 
The  polish  of  these  masses  is  in  proportion 
to  their  sohdity.  Such  is  the  similitude  by 
which  David  would  set  forth  the  daughters 
of  his  house.  They  are  useful;  on  them 
the  structure  reposes. 

In  these  corners  the  families  of  men  are 
joined  together  by  alliance,  as  the  sides  of 
a  great  building.  On  these  the  instru- 
ments of  decoration  are  laid  with  peculiar 
care,  skill  and  afiection.  Christianity  takes 
hold  of  all  this  and  sanctifies  it  for  the 
Master's  use.  There  is  no  genuine  accom- 
plishment of  the  female  mind,  heart  and 
manners,  which  may  not  be  made  tributary 
to  the  honour  of  religion.  Whether  in  the 
maiden's  spring-tide,  the  summer  of  ma- 
tronly cares,  or  the  autumn  of  venerable 
^vidowhood,  we  alike  recognise  her  "whose 
price  is  above  rubies."  "Many  daughters 
have  done  virtuously,  but  thou  excellest 
them  all.  Favour  is  deceitful,  and  beauty 
is  vain  ;  but  a  woman  that  feareth  the  Lord, 


66  THE    TRAIXIN(i    OF 

she  shall  be  praised."  Xowhere  is  the  be- 
nignant hand  of  Christianity  more  visible 
than  on  the  female  character.  Xo  longer 
the  slave,  she  has  become  the  companion, 
of  man.  She  has  risen  to  be  the  helper  of 
Christ  and  of  his  people.  The  I^ew  Testa- 
ment is  full  of  her  eulogy.  Such  are  the 
daughters  for  whom  the  church  may  long ; 
or,  rather,  disregarding  these  distinctions 
of  sex,  the  church  prays  for  children  who 
may  be  her  ornament  and  her  defence. 
And  she  is  prosperous  when  her  youthful 
members  are  numerous  and  holy. 

Here  is  a  cause  in  which  it  would  be 
strange  if  we  could  be  cold.  We  can  do 
nothing  for  mankind  which  is  .comparable 
with  that  which  we  may  do  through  our 
children.  He  leaves  a  precious  legacy  to 
his  race  who  leaves  a  well-trained  family. 

If  that  citizen. is  thought  to  have  made  a 
valuable  contribution  to  the  strength  of  his 
country  who  gives  her  a  group  of  healthy, 
Ptahvart,  courageous  sons  for  her  armies, — 


OUR    SONS   AND    DAUGHTERS.  G7 

SO  that  the  civil  law  gave  peculiar  ininumi- 
ties  to  him  who  w^as  the  father  of  three  sons, 
— how  much  m.ore  shall  he  be  reckoned  a 
benefactor  who  leaves  behind  him  a  whole 
family  of  children  trained  to  wisdom  and 
exercised  in  godliness  !     Increase  of  popu- 
lation may  be  only  the  increase  of  idleness, 
ignorance,  vice,  pauperism  and  disease ;  but 
increase  of  trained  Christians  —  of  sons  like 
young  olive-trees,  of  daughters  like  palace- 
marbles — wdll  be  the  security  of  good  institu- 
tions.    Hence,  the  very  noblest  field  of  every 
patriotic    and    Christian    exertipn    is    that 
which  is  nearest, — the  home-field.    Though 
you  dwell  in  a  cottage,  a  garret,  or  a  cellar, 
yet,  if  you  have  around  you  sons  and  daugh- 
ters, you  have  the  materials  for  a  structure 
which    shall  be  going  up  w^hen   you  shall 
have  departed.     You  have  the  soldiers  for 
that  great  battle  w^hich  is  yet  to  be  fought. 
Never  complain  of  inability  to  do  good  if 
you  have  children  w^hom  you  may  benefit. 
You  perhaps  too  much  limit  your  hopes  as 


68  THE    TRAIXIXG    OF 

to  wliat  may  be  their  capacity  of  mind  and 
heart.  They  may  rise  immensely  above 
any  thing  you  have  yourself  reached  and  all 
that  your  sanguine  heart  has  dreamed.  In 
old  age,  you  may  behold  them  able  warriors 
for  Christ,  when  your  own  right  hand  shall 
have  almost  lost  its  cunning.  And  what  can 
be  more  cheering  to  Christian  old  age  than 
to  be  sustained  and  comforted  in  the  battles 
of  the  Lord  by  the  more  vigorous  arms  of 
sons  and  grandsons  ?  I  have  somewhere 
read  of  an  event  in  the  old  chronicles  of 
England,  which  is  full  of  romantic  interest. 
One  of  the  kings  was  passing  through  a 
city,  on  his  way  to  the  wars,  w^hen  an  aged 
knight  came  to  meet  him,  accompanied 
with  his  eight  sons,  all  of  whom  he  conse- 
crated to  the  military  service  of  his  prince. 
Happy  are  those  fathers  who,  when  seated 
at  the  table  of  Christ,  can  look  around 
them  and  behold  their  sons  ready  to  take 
their  places !  Happy  are  those  sons  who 
early  and  nobly  stand  by  their  parents,  to 


OUR    SONS   AND    DAUGHTERS.  69 

take  from  their  trembling  hands  the  stand- 
ard which  they  have  loved  to  bear !  There 
is  nothing  we  can  give  to  Christ  which  is  so 
precious  as  our  children.  It  is  a  gift  which 
he  is  ready  to  receive  graciously.  The 
hoary  head  of  age  is  doubly  a  crown  of 
honour  when  surrounded  by  pious  descend- 
ants. Each  reflects  lustre  on  the  other. 
Then  it  is  that  we  feel  the  maxim,  "Chil- 
dren's children  are  the  crown  of  old  men ; 
and  the  glory  of  children  are  their  fa- 
thers."* Unworthy  as  were  some  of  the 
sons  of  Israel,  we  nevertheless  feel  the  dig- 
nity of  his  patriarchal  dying-bed  when  he 
cries,  "  Gather  yourselves  together,  and 
hear,  ye  sons  of  Jacob;  and  hearken  unto 
Israel,  your  father,  "f  The  Psalmist  him- 
self no  doubt  remembered  the  solemn  day 
when  Samuel  the  seer  came  with  the  horn 
of  oil  to  the  house  of  his  father  Jesse,  a1 
Bethlehem,  and  when  "he  was  anointed  17 

*  Prov.  xvii.  6.  f  Gen.  xlis.  1. 


70  THE    TllAlXIXG    OF 

the  presence  of  his  brethren."*  One  Jo- 
seph, one  David,  in  a  family  may  bless  a 
whole  commonwealth  and  even  succeeding 
generations.  It  is  chiefly  in  this  way  that 
the  church  is  propagated.  In  this  way, 
certainly,  it  receives  the  most  valuable  part 
of  its  accessions,  if  that  can  be  called  an 
accession  which  is  born  and  bred  within  its 
pale.  Let  the  attentive  reader  ponder  the 
undeniable  statement,  that,  if  all  the  children 
of  all  evangelical  Christians  in  America  ivere 
converted  to-day,  our  country  would  need  nothing 
more  to  make  it  the  happiest  and  most  glorious 
nation  that  ever  was  on  earth.  This  would 
be  like  millennial  light!  What  hope 
would  at  once  break  on  all  the  land  and 
on  our  prospective  population!  There  is, 
therefore,  no  blessing  for  our  country  which 
may  be  more  reasonably  prayed  for  than 
the  Christian  health  and  proficienc}-  of  our 
sons   and   daughters.     And   for   so    vast  a 

*  1  Saiu.  XV i.  13. 


OUR    SONS    AND    DAUGHTERS.  71 

blessing  the  means  are  very  much  put  into 
our  own  hands.  The  covenant-blessings 
are  noted  by  the  families  of  every  successive 
generation.  I  call  to  mind  a  household 
many  members  of  which  are  well  known  to 
me.  The  parents  feared  God,  and  the  father 
was  for  many  years  a  prominent  church 
officer.  Twelve  children  reached  adult  age, 
and  each  became  the  head  of  a  family.  At 
a  certain  point  known  to  me,  when  the  de- 
scendants numbered  more  than  fourscore 
and  when  all  the  twelve  were  yet  living, 
each  of  the  sons  was  an  officer  in  one 
church,  and  every  adult  descendant  was  a 
communicant  in  the  same. 

Again,  I  sa^^,  ''  Children's  children  are 
the  crown  of  old  men."  There  are  nume- 
rous instances  of  households  in  which,  so 
far  as  record  goes,  the  lineage  of  piety  has 
never  ceased.  Certain  families  have  been 
peculiarly  favoured.  The  descendants  of 
Knox  are  still  preaching  the  gospel.  It  is 
said  of  a  certain  family  in  the  Free  Church 


72  THE   TRAINTNO    OT 

of  Scotland,  that,  ever  since  the  Reforma- 
tion, one  or  more  of  the  name  has  been 
constantly  in  the  ministry.  The  family  of 
Buxtorf  was  represented  by  a  series  of 
pious  and  learned  theologians  for  at  least 
two  centuries,  in  regular  succession,  in  Ger- 
many and  Switzerland.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  the  Turrettins  of  Geneva.  It  is 
my  privilege  to  know  five  ministers,  the 
sons  of  one  father,  himself  a  minister. 
It  would  be  easy  to  verily  the  declaration 
that,  by  a  uniform  law  of  grace,  religion 
tends  to  descend  in  the  line  of  families. 
A  large  proportion  of  those  among  us  who 
believe  rejoice  to  ascribe  our  serious  senti- 
ments to  the  holy  teaching  and  example  of 
our  parents,  which  should  greatly  encourage 
us  to  do  whatever  is  possible  towards  secur- 
ing the  instruction  and  salvation  of  those 
whom  God  has  given  us. 

This  brings  itself  home  to  the  hearts  of 
Christian  parents,  as  they  sit,  silent  but 
deeply  moved,  amidst  the  circle  which  is 


OUR    SOX.^    AND    DAUGHTERS.  73 

dearest  to  tliem.     Xo  earthly  blessedness  is 
comparable  to  that  of  being  surrounded  by 
such  a  group.    But  amidst  these  pious  plea- 
sures there  mingles  a  pensive  thought  con- 
cerning the  days  which  are  to  come.     The 
eye   of  the  father   and  mother  penetrates 
somewhat  into  the  future,  and  follows  the 
path  of  their  offspring  as  it  winds  into  the 
obscurities  of  an  untried  state.     Their  in- 
creasing and  unutterable  wish  is,  that  when 
they  are  at  rest  their  children  may  be  caiTy- 
ing   forward   the  work  which  they  loved. 
As  grace  ripens,  and  the  full  corn  is  in  the 
ear,  and  the  ancient  disciple  sees  his  day 
approaching,  he  grows  in  the  longing  that 
some  may  come  into  his  place  and  do  Christ 
service.     Our  term  of  labour,  let  me  say 
once  more,  is  soon  to  end.     "We  have  done 
the   most  of  the  good  or  evil  which  the 
world  is  ever  to  have  from  us.     We  shall 
learn   few   new   lessons,    acquire   few   new 
habits    and    accomplish    few    new    deeds. 
Our   fruit,   be   it  less   or   more,  is  mostly 


74  THE    TRAINING    OF 

gathered  up;  our  account  is  awaiting  ua 
at  the  bar  of  God.  Thus  the  old  plant, 
when  it  has  attained  its  growth,  and 
bloomed,  and  borne  fruit,  and  scattered 
its  seed,  dies  down  to  the  ground  and 
gives  place  to  a  younger  growth.  How 
earnestly  should  we  be  desiring  that  those 
who  are  to  come  after  us  should  be  better 
than  we !  Most  of  all,  how  should  we  crv 
to  God  on  behalf  of  our  own  offspring! — 
not  simply  for  their  sake,  but  for  the  sake 
of  mankind.  Parents  live  anew  and  pro- 
lonof  their  life  of  service  in  the  lives  of  their 
children.  He  who  plants  a  tree  is  a  bene- 
factor :  what  shall  we  say  of  him  who  trains 
a  son  or  daughter  for  Christ? 

What  has  now  been  said  gives  a  great 
value  to  our  household  instructions.  So  mo- 
mentous an  interest  should  not  be  left  to 
chance.  It  should  be  regarded  as  one  of 
the  chief  concerns  of  life.  Xo  sloth,  no 
occupation,  no  weariness,  should  ever  be 
allowed  to  interfere  with  the  domestic  in- 


OUR    SONS    AND    DAUGHTERS.  76 

struction.     Every  Christian  home  is  a  little 
school  for  Christ.     Here  the  pious  mother 
is  upon  her  gentle  throne.     Here  impres- 
sions are  formed  and  habits  are  nurtured 
which  are  to  last  for  life.     The  subsequent 
teaching  of  other  years  is  much  less  efiec- 
tive.     Be  in  earnest,  for  the  time  is  short. 
A  little  longer,  and  the  opportunity  of  gain- 
ing these  infant  hearts  will  be  gone  forever. 
Amidst  the  numerous  and  most  reason- 
able  exhortations  which  are  addressed  to 
mothers,   there   is   some   fear    lest   fathers 
should  forget  their  share  of  responsibility. 
The  mother's  task  comes  first,  and  her  in- 
fluence  never   ceases  to  be  reinforced   by 
associations  of  gentleness  and  love.     The 
father,  in  most  instances,  is  separated  from 
his  youthful  charge  some  hours  of  every 
day.     In  the  remarkable  compensations  of 
Providence,  we  often  see  the  poor  man  en- 
joying the  unbought  pleasure  of  gathering 
his  little  ones  about  his  knee  when  his  rich 
neighbour  is  denied  all  such  blandishments. 


76  THE   TRAINING    OF 

Absurd  customs,  ftivoured  bv  luxury  and 
imitation  of  less  bappy  lands,  tend  to  dis- 
join tbe  nursery  from  tbe  drawing-room. 
Even  in  our  mercantile  circles,  wbere  as- 
sumption of  bereditary  style  and  princely 
usage  would  be  out  of  place,  we  see  tbe 
"baste  to  be  ricb"  producing  a  like  result. 
Men  of  business  snatcb  tbe  morning  meal 
and  burry  down  town,  sometimes  from  a 
pray erl ess  board.  At  tbe  bour  of  tbeir  even- 
ing return  tbe  little  ones  bave  been  sent 
to  bed.  Of  some  it  is  almost  strictly  true 
tbat  tbeir  entire  acquaintance  witb  tbeir 
cbildren  is  on  Sundays  and  bolidays.  Tbe 
tie  between  fatber  and  cbild  is  tberefore 
relaxed  to  an  unnatural  degree.  Wbere 
tbis  particular  cause  is  absent,  tbe  observa- 
tion is  general,  tbat  even  religious  fatbers 
remit  tbeir  sons  and  daugbters  to  tbe  mo- 
tber  for  religious  training.  Tbis  is  greatly 
to  be  deplored  in  tbe  case  of  tbe  boy,  wbo, 
under  tbe  false  and  burtful  maxims  of  tbe 
"Young  America,"  grows  soon  restiff  in  bis 


OUR    SONS    AND    DAUGHTERS.  (  i 

leading-strings,  vindicates  his  preposterous 
claim  to  manhood,  turns  with  suUenness  or 
sneer  upon  her  who  hore  him  and  who 
should  he  to  him  as  a  hlessed  guardian- 
angel,  and  for  all  these  reasons  needs  the 
masculine  hand  and  authority  of  a  father. 
It  is  an  e^-il  hour  when  the  father  lets  slip 
this  opportunity  of  influencing  the  son. 
Such  a  father  has  his  lesson  from  the  mild 
observant,  Cowper: — 

"  His  heart,  now  passive,  yields  to  thy  command : 
Secure  it  thine ;  its  key  is  in  thj-  hand. 
If  thou  desert  thy  charge  and  throw  it  wide, 
Nor  heed  what  guests  there  enter  and  abide, 
Complain  not  if  attachments  lewd  and  base 
Supplant  thee  in  it  and  usurp  thy  place. 
But  if  thou  guard  its  sacred  chambers  sure 
From  vicious  inmates  and  delights  impure, 
Either  liis  gratitude  shall  hold  him  fast 
And  keep  him  warm  and  filial  to  the  last, 
Or,  if  he  prove  unkind,  (as  who  can  say 
But,  being  man,  and  therefore  frail,  he  may?) 
One  comfort  yet  shall  cheer  thy  aged  heart : 
Howe'er  he  slight  thee,  thou  hast  done  thy  part"* 


*  Tirocinium,  p.  171. 


78  THE   TRAINING    OF 

Yet  it  must  be  owned  that  no  fatherly 
tones  can  ever  attain  to  the  magic  of  a 
mother's  voice,  which  may  prove  strong 
when  all  other  means  seem  to  have  lost 
their  efficacy,  when  waywardness  and  hard- 
ness of  heart  have  taken  the  place  of  youth- 
ful docility.  The  case  of  St.  Augustine,  so 
often  quoted  at  second-hand,  is  too  valuable 
not  to  be  given  in  his  own  language.  It 
relates  to  the  period  in  which  he  had  grown 
to  man's  estate  but  was  far  gone  in  depraved 
indulgence,  to  the  unspeakable  grief  of  his 
mother  Monica,  who  did  not  cease  to  be- 
siege the  throne  of  grace  in  his  behalf.  She 
applied  to  a  learned  and  pious  minister  of 
Christ,  and  represented  to  him  the  case  of 
her  wandering  and  heretic  son,  and  received 
from  him  some  general  encouragements, 
which,  however,  did  not  reach  her  sorrow. 
"When  he  had  uttered  these  things,"  says 
Augustine,  "  and  my  mother  refused  to  be 
comforted  by  them,  but  urged  him  more 
and   more,    beseeching   and   weeping   pro- 


OUR    SONS    AND    DAUGHTERS.  79 

fusely  that  he  would  see  me  and  expostu- 
late with  me,  her  counsellor,  as  if  worn  out 
with  her  importunity,  said,  '  Depart !  it 
cannot  be  that  the  son  of  those  tears  can 
perish !'  Which  words,  as  she  often  said 
to  me,  she  received  as  almost  a  response 
from  Heaven." 

Let  me  beseech  parents  to  join  prayer  to 
all  their  other  labours.  This  is  an  engine 
which  may  be  used  even  when  in  the  ab- 
sence of  your  beloved  charge. 

Above  all,  add  to  your  precepts  example. 
At  no  period  of  life  is  there  such  peculiar 
power  in  this  mode  of  influence.  The  child 
is  governed  almost  entirelj'  by  example.  It 
is  not  what  he  hears  you  say  that  forms  him, 
but  what  he  sees  you  do.  The  life  of  child- 
hood is  almost  wholly  a  tissue  of  imitations, 
a  delighted  mimicry  of  adult  pursuits.  Do 
what  you  will,  even  in  your  most  careless 
hours  you  are  setting  examples.  There  is 
no  keenness  of  vision  like  that  of  child- 
hood :  and  there  is  no  closeness  of  imitation 


80  THE   TRAINING    OF 

like  that  which  proceeds  from  love.  The 
boy  or  girl  whom  you  scarcely  notice  per- 
ceives how  yoQ  spend  your  Sabbaths,  how 
you  treat  the  Scriptures,  how  you  live  in 
regard  to  religious  retirement  and  prayer ; 
nay,  soon  comes  to  penetrate  to  your  secret 
springs  of  action,  to  love  what  you  love 
and  despise  what  you  despise.  Knowing 
that  in  many  things  your  affectionate  child 
will  be  the  mirror  of  yourself,  see  to  it 
that  yours  be  such  a  character  as  that  you 
could  die  and  leave  it  for  imitation. 

All  our  reflections  only  seem  to  bring  us 
back  to  the  subject  of  Christian  Education. 
Those  who  are  engaged  in  the  work  of 
education  have  a  charge  which  is  full  of 
responsibility  and  promise.  To  them,  more 
than  to  others,  is  consigned  the  forming  of 
the  future  generation;  nor  can  they  overrate 
their  responsibilities.  I  am  aware  that 
from  inattention,  and  from  unphilosophic 
views,  public  opinion  fails  to  regard  their 
labours  with  the   gratitude  and  reverence 


OUR   SONS   AND    DAUGHTERS.  81 

which  are  due.  Let  them  not  doubt,  how- 
ever, that  they  are  honoured  with  a  special 
opportunity  to  train  the  mind,  to  found 
right  habits,  to  conduct  the  soul  upward, 
to  reveal  the  things  of  God  to  those  who 
may  have  no  such  lessons  at  home,  to 
point  to  the  cross,  and  to  scatter  broadcast 
over  the  infant  community  seeds  which 
shall  germinate  in  after-years. 


CHAPTER  m. 

THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL   PORTRAYED. 

In  ancient  times  the  difFusion  of  know- 
ledge was  by  word  of  mouth.  What  we 
accomplish  on  a  great  scale  by  the  press, 
they  attained  in  their  measure  by  oral  de- 
livery. This  gave  an  importance  to  the 
conversation  of  the  learned,  and  to  their 
public  discourses,  which  we  cannot  well 
appreciate  unless  we  should  go  to  the  East, 
where,  for  the  same  reasons,  the  same  cus- 
toms prevail.  The  man  who  desired  in- 
struction would  travel  far  to  get  it  from  the 
mouth  of  some  sage  or  rabbi.  Hence,  where 
we  should  speak  of  a  hook  they  speak  of  a 
discourse;  and  where  we  speak  of  reading 
they  speak  of  hearing.  Thus,  the  phrase 
"master  and  scholar"  is,  literally,  in  Hebrew, 

82 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.  83 

^'he  that  asketh,  and  he  that  answereth." 
Thus,  Solomon  says,  "Bow  thine  car ;  hear 
the  instruction  of  the  wise;"  and  Paul  de- 
clares "  that  faith  Cometh  hj  hearing.''  So, 
also,  the  'Hips  of  him  that  hath  understand- 
ing;" "the  lips  of  the  righteous  feed  many;" 
"  a  divine  sentence  is  in  the  lips  of  the 
king;"  and  yet  again,  "The  lips  of  the  wise 
disperse  knoivledge/' 

While,  however,  this  Oriental  idiom  might 
be  taken  as  expressing  any  mode  of  com- 
municating truth,  it  has  a  primary  and 
striking  reference  to  the  method  of  oral 
communication,  and  represents  true  wis- 
dom as  dispersing  the  gifts  of  knowledge 
at  every  opening  of  the  lips. 

It  is  religious  wisdom  which  is  intended, 
here  and  everywhere,  in  the  hook  of  Pro- 
verbs. "  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  begin- 
ning of  wisdom."  He  only  is  wise  who  is 
wise  for  the  better  part, — wise  for  eternity, 
wise  unto  God.  Of  such  wisdom — the  true 
heavenly  philosophy — there  are  many  cha- 


'S4  THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

racteristics  -  given  by  the  proverbial  poet, 
Solomon ;  and,  among  them,  this : — it  "  dis- 
perses knowledge"  from  its  lips.  The  im- 
personation of  Holy  Wisdom  is  presented 
in  the  same  character,  as  a  fair,  lovely  and 
majestic  woman,  lofty  in  her  inspiration 
but  condescending  in  her  welcome ;  stand- 
ing and  uttering  oracles  in  the  most  populous 
resorts,  and  giving  large  invitation  to  the 
ignorant  and  the  poor.  There  is  no  more 
beautiful  image  in  the  inspired  poetry. 
''Wisdom  crieth  without;"  that  is,  she 
makes  her  proclamation  in  the  open  air; 
"  she  uttereth  her  voice  in  the  streets ;  she 
crieth  in  the  chief  place  of  concourse," — the 
market-place,  square,  agora,  or  forum,  of  the 
ancients ;  "in  the  cit}"  she  uttereth  her 
words,  saying,  How  long,  ye  simple  ones, 
will  ye  love  simplicity?"  "Doth  not  wis- 
dom cry  ?  and  understanding  put  forth  her 
voice  ?"  Here  is  the  same  amiable  and 
divine  personage  making  her  invitation. 
"  She  standeth  in  the  top  of  high  places," 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.  85- 

such  as  tlie  crag  or  the  monument,  "  by  the 
way  in  the  places  of  the  paths ;  she  crieth 
at  the  gates,''  (a  term  which  in  the  East  was 
like   our    market    or   Exchange,)    ''at   the 
entry  of  the  city,  at  the  coming  in  at  the 
doors. ...  O  ye  simple,  understand  wisdom." 
Elsewhere  she  is  presented  to  us  as  having 
erected  a  palace,   prepared  a  banquet  and 
sent  messengers  to  bring  in  guests.     "Wis- 
dom hath  builded  her  house,  she  hath  hewn 
out  her  seven  pillars ;  she  hath  killed  her 
beasts;    she  hath   mingled  her  wine;    she 
hath  also  furnished  her  table.    She  hath  sent 
forth   her  maidens :    she   crieth  upon   the 
highest  places  of  the  city,  Whoso  is  simple, 
let  him  turn  in  hither."     It  is  therefore  the 
obvious  characteristic  of  scriptural  wisdom 
that   it    is    accessible,   condescending    and 
benevolent ;    and,  wherever  it   enters   into 
any  human  soul,  this  is  transformed  into 
the  same  image.      True  Christian  wisdom 
is  communicative,  and   that  which   it   com- 
municates is  knowledae ;    and,  when  this  is 


86  THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

clone  oralbj^  it  may  most  emphatically  be 
said,  "  The  lips  of  the  wise  disperse  know- 
ledge." The  water  of  life  which  is  given 
to  us  is  not  to  be  kept  merely,  as  in  a  cistern, 
but  to  floic  abroad,  as  from  2i> fountain.  "The 
wellspring  of  wisdom  is  as  a  flowing  brook." 
This  tendency  is  exhibited  in  all  the 
teachings  of  Christianity,  which  from  the 
beginning  have  been  engaged  in  this  dis- 
persion of  knowledge ;  still  more  specially 
in  every  attempt  to  enlighten  the  more  de- 
graded and  ignorant ;  but  most  signally,  as 
I  think,  in  this  particular  endeavour  which 
it  is  my  pleasing  task  to  advocate.  Over 
the  pediment  of  the  Sunday-school  temple 
would  we  inscribe  as  a  motto,  "The  lips  of 

THE    WISE    DISPERSE    KNOWLEDGE." 

It  is  an  institution  which  many  of  us  love 
and  honour ;  and  our  reasons  it  may  not  be 
amiss  to  give,  though  it  must  be  only  in 
part. 

I.  We  love  and  honour  this  school  for 
the  sake  of  its  pupils.     It  disperses  know- 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.  87 

ledge  to  those  who  need  it  most,. to  iniaiicy 
and  youth,  and,  especially,  to  the  children 
of  the  poor.  Its  proclamation  is,  "Whoso 
is  simple,  let  him  turn  in  hither :  as  for  him 
that  wanteth  understanding,  she  saith  to 
him,  Forsake  the  foolish,  and  live ;  and  go 
in  the  way  of  understanding."  "  Come,  ye 
children,  hearken  unto  me :  I  v/ill  teach 
you  the  fear  of  the  Lord."  The  Sunday- 
school  gathers  with  its  arm  the  outcast 
children.  In  this  it  follows  the  Lord,  who 
took  them  in  his  arms  and  blessed  them, 
and  obeys  the  Lord,  who  said,  "Lovest 
thou  me  ? — feed  my  lambs  !"  These  pupils 
are  at  the  loveliest  age  and  the  age  that  is 
most  hopeful.  We  delight  to  see  the  un- 
shapen,  unhardened  clay  brought  under  the 
impressive  seal.  To  mould  a  nation,  as  we 
have  seen  before,  we  must  mould  its  chil- 
dren. Give  me  the  mind  and  heart  of  in- 
fancy, and  I  will  answer  for  all  the  rest. 
The  myriads  who,  on  any  Lord's  day,  have 
been  marshalled  under  their  several  teachers, 


88  THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

are,  in  a  great  degree,  the  hope  of  the  church 
and  of  America.  Their  songs  are  sweet  in 
the  ear  of  God.  *'  Out  of  the  mouths  of 
babes  and  sucklings  thou  hast  perfected 
praise!"  And  these  lambs,  lovely  as  they 
are,  would  have  fallen  a  prey  to  ravening 
wolves.  But  on  this  point  much  has 
already  been  offered. 

n.  We  love  and  honour  this  school  for 
the  sake  of  its  teachers.  It  is  my  deliberate 
judgment  that  the  best  part  of  our  Ame- 
rican church  is  that  which  is  in  the  ranks 
of  Sunday-school  teaching,  or  which  has 
been  there.  They  are,  in  great  part,  young 
Christians.  The  very  term  imports  ardour, 
zeal  and  strength, — the  spring,  bloom  and 
promise  of  the  church.  They  are  the  ad- 
vance-guard of  our  host ;  leading  the  van, 
breaking  through  the  frontiers  of  indolence, 
adventuring  into  the  enemy's  territory  ;  our 
blessed  "army  of  occupation."  It  is  one 
(»f  the  good  points  of  the  scheme  that  it 
affords   employment    for    such,    and    that. 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.  80 

Avlieiiever  an  intelligent  young  disciple  feels 
himself  stimulated  by  an  irrepressible  desire 
to  labour  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  he 
always  has  a  field  open  for  him,  and  need 
not  delay  even  a  moment.  Hence,  the 
pastoY  naturally  turns,  in  an  emergency,  to 
his  Sabbath-school  teachers;  and  hence, 
also,  some  of  the  most  able  and  successful 
ministers  and  missionaries  have  issued  from 
these  nurseries.  The  exercises  enjoined  on 
teachers  cultivate  their  graces  and  keep 
their  benevolence  always  in  working-order. 
Taking  pupils  and  scholars  together,  they 
comprise  the  better  portion  of  our  churches. 
III.  We  love  and  honour  this  school  for 
the  sake  of  its  lessons.  While  this  topic 
is  reserved  for  separate  treatment,  I  cannot 
omit  it  in  this  connection.  The  entrance  of 
God's  word  "  giveth  light ;  it  giveth  under- 
standing to  the  simple" — and  to  the  simple 
among  the  youthful  and  the  poor.  It  opens 
before  them  the  richest  of  all  treasures — 
the   book   of  God.      Other   schools    teach 


90  THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

other  things ;  but  this  teaches  the  one  thing 
needful.  All  its  teachers  and  all  its  pupils 
are  engaged  all  the  year  round  in  learning 
this  single  volume.  There  are  no  lessons 
which  are  not  derived  hence.  And  what  a 
privilege  is  here !  Denied  to  multitudes, 
even  in  Christendom,  unknown  to  most 
on  earth,  but  given  to  us  and  to  our  chil- 
dren !  What  can  we  do  better  for  our  race 
than  to  bring  them  at  the  earliest  age  to  the 
word  of  God?  And  how  enlivening  the 
thought  that,  this  very  day,  the  children  and 
youth  in  our  own  land  who  are  enjoying 
this  blessing  are  numbered  by  hundreds 
of  thousands !  What  an  auxiliary  to  the 
Bible  Society  and  to  the  pulpit  I  What  a 
fountain  of  life  for  the  whole  nation  !  We 
love  the  school,  then,  for  its  text-book, 
which  is  from  the  hand  of  God. 

IV.  We  love  and  honour  this  school  for 
the  sake  of  the  day  on  which  it  convenes. 
It  is  a  Sabbaih-school :  it  meets  on  the 
Lord's   day.     All   the   associations  of  this 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    POKTKAYED.  91 

holy  time  are  sweet;  and  it  is  fitting,  at 
such  a  time,  to  take  our  little  ones  by  the 
hand  and  lead  them  to  the  house  of  God. 
The  poorer  one  is,  the  more  is  the  Sabbath 
a  blessing  to  him.  Some  of  my  readers 
scarcely  know  what  is  meant  by  the  word 
rest;  for  he  cannot  be  said  to  rest  who  never 
labours.  But  the  first  day  of  the  w^eek 
dawns  with  a  gentle  radiance  on  many  a 
cottage  of  toil,  and  brings  with  it  cleanli- 
ness, decent  ornament,  quietude,  domestic 
greetings  and  sacred  worship.  Often  has 
the  poor  man  felt^  though  he  could  not  sing^ 
with  "holy  Herbert," — 

"  0  day  most  sweet,  most  calm,  most  bright ! 
The /rui<  of  this,  the  next  world's  hud  ; 
Th'  endorsement  of  supreme  delight, 
Writ  by  a  Friend,  and  with  his  blood ; 
The  couch  of  time,  care's  calm  and  bay ! 
The  week  were  dark  but  for  thy  light; 
Thy  torch  doth  show  the  way." 

These    associations   are   lost   on  no  one 
of  the   three    classes  of  teachers,  children 


92  THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

and  parents.  The  very  proximity  of  the 
church,  the  nearness  of  divine  service, 
the  sio^ht  of  the  orreat  cons^recration,  and  di- 
versified  Sabbath  relations,  so  aifect  the  lit- 
tle ones  in  particular  that  we  need  not  mar- 
vel that  they  sometimes  learn  more  on  the 
first  day  of  the  week  than  on  all  the  other 
six.  Therefore,  in  estimating  the  Sunday- 
school,  let  us  never  forget  the  daij. 

V.  "We  love  and  honour  this  school  for 
the  sake  of  its  exd.  It  has  no  lower  object 
than  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  Happy  is  the 
teacher,  and  happy  are  the  scholars,  where 
this  is  felt  and  acted  on  I  There  are  many 
incidental  advantages  which  arise  from  such 
education  as  is  here  afforded.  It  fits  a  child 
for  life,  and  is  to  many  a  little  fortune.  It 
gives  to  the  offspring  of  poverty  more  ac- 
complishment than  was  possessed  by  many 
a  mail-clad,  iron-handed  count  and  king 
of  Middle-Age  chivalry.  It  gives  clearer 
knowledge  of  philosophy  than  ever  beamed 
on  Socrates  or  Cicero.     But  its  great  aim 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.  03 

is  to  save  the  soul.  The  humble  Sabbath- 
teacher  kneels  in  the  morning  and  says, 
"This  day,  0  Lord,  when  I  meet  my  class 
of  little  ones,  so  enable  me  to  teach  them 
that  they  may  be  saved  in  the  day  of  Christ 
Jesus."  It  is  something  for  a  child  to  have 
the  prayers  of  an  affectionate  Christian  ; 
and  there  are  teachers  who  duly  remem- 
ber each  pupil  by  name,  every  day,  at  the 
throne  of  grace.  The  lips  that  so  disperse 
knowledge  as  to  win  the  youthful  mind  to 
Christ  are  doubly  blessed. 

What  can  we  do,  so  full  of  promise,  for 
the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  popish  emi- 
grants who  are  coming  to  our  shores,  as 
to  lead  their  children  to  the  pure  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ?  Instead  of  that  material, 
outward  cross — the  implement  of  super- 
stition— let  us  lead  them  to  the  true,  the 
scriptural,  the  evangelical  cross  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  We  must  not 
doubt  for  an  instant  that  God  is  able  to 
save  the  souls  even  of  little  ones.     It  has 


94  THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    POETRAYED. 

graciously  happened  again  and  again.  If 
we  would  effectually  uproot  the  devices  of 
man  in  religion  and  destroy  the  growth  of 
antichristian  imposture,  we  must  begin 
with  the  youngest.  We  must  strike  at  the 
root.  We  must  apply  our  means  to  the  rill, 
which,  if  left  a  few  years,  will  become  a 
wide,  deep,  irresistible  torrent.  Look  at 
the  wild  and  squalid  and  prematurely-hag- 
gard creatures  who  prowl  about  our  Sab- 
bath streets,  and  behold  the  material  upon 
which  Bible  truth  is  to  operate,  and  which 
no  means  at  present  within  our  power  can 
reach,  except  the  Sunday-school.  Christian 
benevolence  will  glory  in  the  sacrifice  and 
the  toil,  and  scatter  the  seed  with  lively 
hope. 

VI.  We  love  and  honour  this  school 
because  of  its  fruits.  It  has  been  Ions: 
enough  planted  and  in  bearing  for  us  to 
judge  of  it  by  this  infallible  criterion : — "For 
the  tree  is  known  by  its  fruits."  It  has  been 
dispersing    wisdom    as   a  widely-spreading 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    POIITKAYED.  95 

tree  disperses  its  fruit.     This  heavenly  wis- 
dom is  a  richer  treasure  than  the  golden 
apples  of  the  Hesperides.     ^'She  is  a  tree 
of  life  to  them  that  lay  hold  upon  her." 
Not    till    eternity   can   we    know   all    the 
blessed  conservative  influences  of  the  Sun- 
day-school ;  how  many  she  has  saved  from, 
the  example  of  impious  parents,  from  the 
jail,  the  gallows,  or  the  damnation  of  the 
drunkard ;  how  many  slie  has  brought  to 
the  house  of  prayer  and  instructed  in  sound 
doctrine  ;  how  many  she  has  provided  with 
Christian  friends,  to  be  a  safeguard  and  a 
pleasure  through  life ;   how  many  she  has 
trained   into  a  taste   for   reading,  vidthout 
which  the  best  tracts  and  books  would  have 
been  thrown  away  on  them ;  how  many  she 
has  so  taught  as  that  they  have  been  awak- 
ened, convinced,  humbled  and   converted ; 
how  many  she  has  introduced  into  the  place 
of  teachers,  to  repay  in  this  manner  a  little 
of  the  mighty  debt ;    how  many  she   has 
trained  to  be  ministers  and  missionaries,  to 


96  THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

*' disperse  kuowledge"  in  the  ends  of  the 
earth ;  and  how  many  she  has  convoyed  to 
heaven,  from  which  they  look  down  this 
da}^  with  interest  on  the  work  we  prosecute. 
The  fruits  of  Sunday-schools  may  be  read 
and  known  of  all  men :  they  are  on  every 
side  of  us,  great  and  undeniable.  And  I  find 
no  better  place  than  this  for  adding  that 
the  libraries  of  religious  books  which  are 
furnished  for  children  and  youth  by  the 
Sunday-school  are  worthy  of  special  con- 
sideration. They  disperse  knowledge  far 
and  wide,  even  where  the  living  messenger 
cannot  go.  They  have  been  marked  not 
only  by  negative  qualities  or  the  absence  of 
false  doctrine,  but  by  positive  enunciation  of 
strong  evangelical  doctrine,  to  an  extent 
which  many  among  us  may  not  have 
known.  It  is  no  sickly  or  puny  theology 
which  is  nurtured  on  such  matter  as  the 
"Holy  "War,"  or  the  "Way  of  Life,"  or  the 
"Great  Question."  One  of  the  modes  of 
doing  good  hi  remote  regions,  afforded  by 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.  97 

this   arrangement,  is   that   any  benevolent 
Christian,  for  a  small  sum,  may  send  a  Sun- 
day-school library  to  the  most  distant  rami- 
fication of  travel  or   commerce.     Of  this, 
and  of  the  whole    Sunday-school   eflbrt,  I 
may  say  that  it  is  admirably  suited  to  the 
wants  and  dangers  of  our  American  terri- 
tory and  population.     We  are  a  young  peo- 
ple, growing  and  spreading  in  an  unexam- 
pled manner,  and  outstripping  all  the  ordi- 
nary means  of  grace.     But  where  we  can- 
not plant  a  church  we  may  set  up  a  school ; 
and  where  we  have  no  teacher  we  can  send 
a  librarv.     Our  State  schools,  it  seems  to  be 
well  determined,  will  not  furnish  any  thing 
for  the  soul.     With  some  the  Bible  is  sec- 
tarian ;  and   it  certainly  does  contain  very 
strong  tenets  of  a  '-sect  w^hich  was  every- 
where spoken  against"  in  old   times,  and 
which  is  still  eminently  distasteful  to  all  the 
varieties  of  antichristian  craft  and   infidel 
looseness.    In  the  absence  of  Christian  day- 
schools,  we  must  labour  all  the  more  ear- 

9 


98  THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

nestly  to  give  instruction  to  as  many  as  pos- 
sible on  the  Sabbath. 

And  here  I  feel  it  to  be  impossible  to  speak 
my  mind  concerning  this  subject  without  a 
tribute  of  respect  and  affection  to  the  Ame- 
rican Sunday-school  Union.  For  more  than 
thirty  years*  it  has  been  pursuing  its  noise- 
less way,  a  stream  of  refreshment  and  fer- 
tility to  millions.  Every  step  of  its  pro- 
gress is  marked  by  verdure  and  flowers 
and  fruit.  But,  just  as,  in  the  case  of  a 
natural  river,  we  should  judge  but  im- 
perfectly of  its  benefits  if  we  confined  our 
view^  to  its  immediate  banks,  however  green 
and  wealthy,  so  we  do  injustice  to  this  truly 
national  society  when  we  regard  only  its 
proximate  results  on  the  children  whom  it 
purifies,  the  region  over  which  it  pours  its 
flood  of  knowledge,  or  even  the  existing 
generation  which  it  fills  with  blessing.  Its 
manner  of  influence  is  such  that  the  present 

*"  It  was  established,  May,  1824. 


THE    SUXDAT-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.  09 

age  will  not  behold  the  complete  work.     It 
is  our  fault  that  it  has  not  carried  Christian 
education  to  every  corner  of  the  land.    It  is, 
as  an  engine,  capable  of  this,  being,  next  to 
the  preaching  of  the  word,  the  most  available 
instrument   for   evangelizing   the  countr}^ 
It  is  cheap ;  it  is  simple ;  it  is  energetic ;  it 
is  flexible :   what  more  can  be  said  of  an 
instrument?     It  adapts  itself  to  all  states  of 
society,  and,  by  a  singular  good  providence, 
it  adapts  itself  especially  to  such  a  state  as 
cur's.     Is  it  summoned  to  labour  in  popu- 
lous towns?     It  gathers  the  vilest  and  the 
most  ignorant,   places   its   fulcrum  on  the 
faith   and   self-denial    of   the    church,   and 
plies   its  mighty  lever  so  as  to   elevate  a 
class  which  no  other  means  can  reach.     Is 
it   sent  as  a  pioneer   into   the   wide    tract 
of  the  newly-settled  West?     It  penetrates 
where    the    preacher    has    not    yet   come, 
opens   through   the    forest  a  path   for  the 
Bible  and  the  tract,  and  establishes  its  out- 
posts in  the  utmost  verge  of  civilization. 


100        THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

And  this  it  does  (let  it  be  marked)  in  its 
distinctive  character  as  a  catholic  union  of 
Christians.  It  is  the  true  Evangelical  Alli- 
ance, and  has  for  years  been  befriending 
the  cause  of  Protestant  union,  not  by  theo- 
retical protocols,  not  by  platform  ameni- 
ties which  never  reach  beyond  the  stage 
of  their  utterance,  not  by  anniversary  con- 
ferences and  trumpetings  of  fraternity,  but 
by  fact,  by  labour,  by  love,  by  actual  ex- 
hibition of  Christians  working  in  concert, 
and  by  the  patient  inculcation  of  the  blessed 
truths  which  we  hold  in  common. 

It  is  a  strange  error  to  suppose  that  the 
American  Sunday-school  Union  is  injurious 
even  to  sectarian  interests.  There  is  not 
one  of  the  sects  which  has  not  been  built 
up  by  it.  There  is  not  one  of  them,  even 
the  most  exclusive,  which  has  not  received 
from  its  fostering  arms  infant  churches 
which  would  never  have  seen  the  liirht, 
or,  seeing  it,  would  have  speedily  perished, 
but  for  this  nursing  mother.     The  cases  are 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYEP.        101 

innumerable  in  which,  in  thinly-settled  dis- 
tricts in  the  new  countries,  emigrants  have 
worn  such  a  diversity  of  religious  badges 
that  their  uniting  on  a  preacher  would  have 
been  out  of  the  question  for  a  number  of 
years.  Suppose,  for  example,  fifty  families 
within  an  area  of  nine  square  miles,  and 
these  of  six  difl:erent  persuasions.  The  case 
is  by  no  means  imaginary.  They  cannot 
join  as  yet  in  a  church.  And,  while  they 
are  waiting  for  increase  of  numbers  and 
strength,  a  new  generation  has  sprung  up  and 
acquired  habits  which  may  unfit  them  forever 
for  the  good  work.  In  such  circumstances 
the  American  Sunday-school  Union  comes 
like  an  angel  from  heaven.  It  gathers  its 
little  circle  in  the  log-cabin,  perhaps  around 
a  single  teacher.  But  the  place  is  Bethel. 
The  voice  of  infant  prayer  goes  up  sweetly 
among  the  woods  and  glades,  "to  still  the 
enemy  and  the  avenger."  The  praises  of 
Christ  are  already  heard  for  the  first  time 
where  savage  paganism  had  rioted.   Though 

9* 


102        THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

not  by  the  minister,  yet  by  the  humble 
missionary  teacher,  the  word  of  life  is  pro- 
claimed to  children  and  parents.  The  little 
cluster  increases.  It  becomes  a  religious 
assembly,  and  the  best  possible  harbinger 
of  the  church,  the  best  possible  station  for 
the  itinerant  missionary.  The  transition  is 
easy  from  this  state  of  things  to  that  of 
established  congregations  connected  with 
such  evangelical  bodies  as  may  be  indi- 
cated by  the  predilections  or  convictions  of 
the  people.  Some  of  the  happiest  churches 
have  had  this  very  origin.  The  eflbrt  would 
have  been  devoid  of  half  its  success  if  the 
principle  of  union  had  not  come  in.  This 
sort  of  church-extension  might  be  going  on 
without  limit  if  we  were  only  helping  as  we 
ought  to  carry  forward  the  great  work  of 
the  American  Sunday-school  Union. 

The  habit  of  looking  for  fields  of  bene- 
volent labour  chiefly  to  our  new  countries 
of  the  West  has  somewhat  diverted  our  at- 
tention   from    the  seats   of  ignorance   and 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.        103 

misery  in  cities  and  towns.     From  causes 
quite  opposite,  the  two  localities  often  ex- 
hibit the  same  sort  of  evils,  forms  of  rude- 
ness and  irreligion.     Of   the  chapter  now 
before  the  reader's  eye,  part  was  written  in 
a  crowded  part  of  our  greatest  city,   and 
part   among   the  spurs   of  the   Alleghany, 
where  the  wild  deer  may  be  seen  every  day. 
Neither    the    reputed    civilization    of    the 
metropolis,  nor  the  rustic  innocency  of  the 
mountains,  has  availed  to  prevent  human 
blindness.       In    either    instance,   we    find 
numbers  who  care  not  for  God's  word  and 
who  cannot  read  it.    If  the  census  be  taken, 
the  ignorance  of  the  civic  population  will 
startle    us    most    in    regard    of    numbers. 
Great  towns  show  their  thousands  who  are 
utterly  unlettered.     Xew  York,  Cincinnati, 
Xew  Orleans,  Boston,  have  their  spots  of 
deep  soil  and  rank  growth,  where  the  pro- 
geny of  filth  and  misery  spring  up  too  fast 
for  ordinary  and    established    means,  and 
where  the  spirit  of  Robert  Raikes  might 


104       THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

come  again  to  sigh  over  Sabbath  profana- 
tion. The  over-peopled  tenements  disgorge 
hordes  on  the  Lord's  day,  but  comparatively 
few  to  schools  and  churches.  The  tattered, 
squalid  urchins — often  already  men  and 
women  in  perverse  acuteness — disperse 
themselves  in  streets  and  alleys,  continue 
noisy  sports,  hang  about  wharves,  fer- 
ries, markets,  and  open  lots,  or  stroll  to 
green  fields,  river-banks,  and  beer-gardens. 
Yast  is  the  increasing  levy  made  for  these 
legions  of  citizens,  who  are,  for  the  most 
part,  ignorant  and  superstitious,  if  not  pro- 
fane and  vicious.  It  is  the  fashion  to  ascribe 
all  this  evil  surplus  to  Germany  and  Ire- 
land: justice  would  force  us  to  acknow- 
ledge that  no  more  noxious  importation  has 
been  made  from  any  country  than  from 
England.  If  any  one  will  consult  Mr.  May- 
hew's  "London  Labour  and  London  Poor," 
or  Mr.  Yanderkist's  "Dens  of  London,"  he 
will  learn  how  many  thousands  grow  up 
almost  as  unchristian  as  Hottentots,  within 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.        105 

the  sound  of  Bow  Bells  and  under  the  o;reat 
shadow  of  Saint  Paul's.  The  police  well  know 
how  many  of  this  class  add  to  our  city  and 
jail  populations.  The  children  of  these  are 
corrupt  themselves,  and  corrupters  of  others. 
As  are  the  children  of  the  present  period,  such 
will  be  the  men  and  women  of  the  next.  Unless 
blossoms  of  poison  can  mature  into  whole- 
some fruit,  there  is  before  us  a  time  of  new 
dangers  and  corruptions.  These  are  the 
people  who  brawl  about  the  hustings ;  who 
stand  out  for  his^h  wao-es  in  strikes  and 
trades-unions  during  warm  seasons,  in  order 
to  make  themselves  the  paupers  of  the  fol- 
lowing winter ;  who  foment  bad  blood  be- 
tween nation  and  nation,  between  religion 
and  religion,  between  region  and  region, 
between  class  and  class : — the  people,  in  a 
word,  who  endanger  the  peace  and  the  very 
union  of  our  commonwealth.  If  we  can, 
let  us  figure  to  ourselves  w^hat  may  be  ex- 
pected ten  years  hence  from  the  lad  who 
is  now  the  nocturnal  runner  to  fires,  or  the 


106        THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL   PORTRAYED. 

prowler  about  the  theatre  and  circus,  or  the 
precocious  haunter  of  drinking-places,  or 
the  beguiled  Sunday-news-boy.  Let  us 
seriously  ask,  what  sort  of  citizens  and 
Christians  those  myriads  will  ripen  into, 
who  attend  no  religious  worship.  These 
are  they  who  are  shortly  to  make  our  laws, 
choose  our  governors,  and,  perhaps,  (which 
may  God  avert !)  swell  majorities  for  rapa- 
cious wars  or  seditious  and  fratricidal  dis- 
union. Already,  in  certain  quarters,  zeal 
for  "  saving  the  Union"  has  become  a  mat- 
ter of  vulgar  sneer ;  and  Robespierres  in  the 
pulpit  and  the  editor's  chair  may  readily 
iiud  sans-culottes  and  revolutionary  fish- 
wives in  the  untutored  mob.  It  is  my 
solemn  belief  that  in  the  absence  of  day- 
schools  which  shall  teach  the  way  of  salva- 
tion— and  for  our  purpose  it  matters  not 
w^hether  national  or  ecclesiastical — there  is 
no  way  to  reach  these  masses  but  the  Sun- 
day-school. By  its  twofold  machinery  of 
ORAL    LESSONS   and   BOOKS,   this   institution 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.        lOT 

goes  SO  deeply  to  work  that  for  its  triumph 
it  needs  only  the  thorough  carrying  out  of 
its  principles. 

In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  locali- 
ties of  darkness  and  degradation  already 
alluded  to,  God  has  providentially  gathered 
Christian  churches,  the  memhers  of  which 
have  abundance  of  leisure,  intelligence  and 
wealth.  In  these  churches  are  young  men 
and  young  women,  professing  faith  and 
"apt  to  teach."  Does  not  the  truth  flash 
with  conviction  on  ever^^  such  person,  as 
he  reads  these  lines,  I  am  the  very  labourer 
on  whom  God  calls. "^ 

If  any  apolog}'  is  needed  for  thus  bring- 
ing the  discussion  to  the  point  of  an  almost 
personal  exhortation,  the  reader  will  recog- 
nise it  in  the  urgency  of  the  wants  and 
dansrers  at  which  I  have  hinted.     The  time 


*  On  this  branch  of  the  subject  it  is  gratifying  to  refer  to 
so  able  an  argument  as  that  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Potts,  of  New 
York,  m  his  Annual  Sermon  preached  at  the  request  of  tho 
American  Sunday-school  Union,  May,  1853. 


108        THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

has  come  when  all  the  available  resources 
of  our  churches  should  be  drawn  forth,  as 
are  the  resources  of  an  empire  in  time  of 
invasion.  There  is  a  tendency  in  Sunday- 
schools,  as  there  is  in  churches,  to  gravitate 
and  settle  into  a  fixed  and  respectable  indo- 
lence, instead  of  breaking  forth,  according 
to  the  analogy  of  our  fresh  and  budding 
country,  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left, 
with  a  holy  propagandism. 

Let  me  be  pardoned  for  repeating  so  ob- 
vious a  thought,  but  it  ought  to  be  repeated 
until  it  is  acted  on.  Many  excellent  persons 
go  upon  the  principle  that  all  is  well  so 
long  as  the  existing  Sunday-school  classes 
are  manned ;  and  w^hen,  on  surveying  the 
schools,  they  find  a  sufficiency  of  teachers, 
they  feel  satisfied  that  there  is  no  claim  on 
their  services.  But  the  true  method  is  for 
the  benevolent  and  glowing  Christian  to  go 
into  the  highways  and  hedges  and  beat  up 
recruits;  to  gather  a  class  for  himself;  and 
with  this  to  enter  the  school,  thus  bring- 


THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL   PORTRAYED.        109 

ing  into  it  a  clear  gain  of  class  as  well  as 
teacher. 

Let  not  my  reader  despair  of  seeing 
just  such  a  movement  in  the  midst  of  his 
own  community.  It  will  make  a  new  de- 
mand on  the  generosity  of  the  well-doing 
for  the  increased  expenses ;  but  if  there  is 
any  mode  of  charity  more  frugal  than  this 
it  is  unknown  to  me.  And,  if  the  Sunday- 
school  spirit  were  thus  to  rise  among  us,  its 
effect  would  instantly  be  manifest  in  every 
department  of  our  religious  life.  There  is 
something  in  the  work  of  religious  instruc- 
tion which  proves  good  for  the  sacred  affec- 
tions, and  something  in  the  united  action 
of  harmonious  teachers  which  diffuses  joy 
and  animation.  Who  can  tell  what  a  re- 
vival of  our  graces  and  comforts  might  be 
expected  if  every  little  Sabbath-school  corps 
in  town  and  country  were  to  be  doubled 
without  delay?  And  doubled  each  might 
be  before  the  week  is  over.  It  is  no  time 
to  be  kept  back  from  the  work  by  petty 

10 


110        THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL   PORTRAYED. 

scruples  when  so  many  are  lying  in  dark- 
ness and  perishing  in  sin  :  as  well  might 
we  be  kept  hack  from  rescuing  a  drown- 
ino;  child  because  of  some  inconvenience 
to  our  apparel.  True  charity  will  be  ab- 
sorbed in  the  view  of  the  evil,  and  will  fly 
to  relieve  it  with  all  possible  speed.  Ear- 
nestly then  would  I  call  upon  those  among 
us  who  have  not  yet  enlisted  in  this  work 
to  endue  themselves  with  the  armour.  The 
simple  mode  of  beginning  is  to  sally  forth 
and  discover  four  or  five  children  who  are  ivill- 
ing  to  he  instructed. 

To  those  who  are  already  engaged  in  this 
sei'vice  I  extend  my  warm  congratulations. 
It  is  a  good  work,  and  a  good  preparation 
for  almost  every  other.  It  brings  one  at 
once  into  immediate  connection  with  the 
vast  body  of  God's  labouring  or  militant 
people.  Let  me  use  the  familiar  but 
warmer  mode  of  personal  address  to  my 
fellow-teachers.  There  are  persons,  even 
of  those  whom  we  esteem  believers,  who, 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.        Ill 

from   necessity    or   choice,    are  in  no  way 
mingling  with  the  active,  advancing  por- 
tion of  Christ's  forces.     You,  on  the  con- 
trary, have  entered  on  duties  which  make 
you  feel  an  identity  of  interest  and  a  com- 
munity of  toil  and  pleasure  with  all  who, 
in  the  pastoral  office  or  in  foreign  lands, 
are  striving  for  the   salvation  of  men.     It 
is  good  and  healthful  so  to  feel.     Resolve, 
beloved  brethren   and  sisters  in  the  Lord, 
that,    with    God's   aid,   you   will   never  lie 
still  so  long  as  there  is  ignorance  untaught 
or   vice   unrebuked.     Your   promise   is   to 
"disperse  knowledge:"    be  sure  that  you 
have  it  to  disperse.     And,  for  this  end,  be 
much  in  the  study  of  the  Hol}^  Scriptures. 
Make  this  study  part  of  your  daily  employ- 
ment.   Go  to  your  scholars  with  minds  fully 
imbued  with  the   momentous  truth  which 
you   are   called   to    communicate.      In   the 
sequel   it   will   be    our   delightful   employ- 
ment to  consider  the  whole  body  of  Sun- 
day-school teachers  all  over  the  world  as 


112       THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED. 

SO  many  Bible-studexts.  This,  if  they 
are  faithful,  is  their  true  character.  En- 
deavour to  pursue  these  studies  with  refer- 
ence to  the  spiritual  good  of  your  charge 
as  the  immediate  object.  Look  upon  your 
own  class  as  a  sacred  deposit  in  your  hands 
for  which  you  will  give  account  when  the 
Lord  shall  come.  Look  upon  them  one 
by  one,  and  successively  single  out  each 
one  as  the  subject  of  your  particular  pray- 
ers and  the  object  of  your  particular  ad- 
monition and  persuasion.  Be  not  satisfied 
unless  you  can  learn  something  of  the 
thoughts  and  exercises  of  each  in  respect 
to  divine  things.  Many  have  been  the  in- 
stances of  hopeful  conversion  granted  as  a 
crowning  reward  to  the  faithful  words  of 
the  teacher.  And  set  before  your  minds, 
as  your  deliberate  aim,  not  merely  the  ge- 
neral, vague  improvement  of  your  class,  but 
the  individual  salvation  of  each  member  in 
particular;  and  let  no  day  pass  without  a 
remembrance  of  this  at  the  throne  of  o-race. 


THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    PORTRAYED.        113 

Besides  your  indispensable  aid  to  your 
own  church-efForts,  remember  your  loyalty 
to  the  general  cause.  The  American  Sun- 
day-school Uniox  is  a  great  missionary 
society.  It  can  go  where  there  are  neither 
churches  nor  ministers,  while  it  prepares 
the  way  for  both.  There  is  no  Christian 
effort  towards  the  reformation  of  rural  igno- 
rance and  metropolitan  vice  which  is  do- 
ing so  much  as  the  Sunday-school.  All 
our  churches  are  built  up  by  it,  and  new 
churches  are  formed.  We  can  use  this 
cheap  agency  long  before  wx  can  send  a 
missionary  or  gather  a  congregation.  AVe 
can  reach  the  children  of  infidels  and  Pa- 
pists, w^hose  parents  would  not  come  to 
our  regular  services,  but  who,  in  many 
well-known  instances,  are  drawn  in  to  learn 
the  rio-ht  wavs  of  the  Lord.  Let  us  there- 
fore  enable  the  general  society  to  spread 
this  gospel-net  more  widely  than  ever.  In 
very  deed,  what  is  it  but  giving  to  our 
own  necessities  ?     As  I  propose  hereafter 

10* 


114        Tin:    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    POllTRAYED. 

to  show,  we  shall  thus  be  preparing  the 
way  of  the  Lord.  We  shall  be  casting 
salt  into  the  poisoned  fountains.  We  shall 
be  rescuing  precious  youth  from  the  toils 
of  error  and  the  fetters  of  destructive  ha- 
bit. "We  shall  be  training  up  a  new  race 
of  intelhgent  Christians  for  the  emergen- 
cies of  coming  perilous  times.  While 
Home  is  flooding  us  with  schools  of  in- 
sidious pretension  and  secret  power,  let 
us  be  on  the  alert,  inculcating  the  pure, 
unadulterated  word  of  God,  which  is  able 
to  save  the  soul.  The  time  is  short !  May 
God  grant  us  strength  and  disposition  to 
work  while  the  day  lasts ! 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE     BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

The  subject  now  to  be  treated  has  been 
indicated  in  the  preceding  chapter.  It  has 
often  occurred  to  me  that  the  true  name  of 
the  Sunday-school  would  be  the  Bible- 
school.  There  is  nothing  in  its  instructions 
which  mi2:ht  not  as  well  be  communicated 
on  any  other  day  of  the  week,  or  all  the 
week  long,  if  people  only  had  leisure ;  but 
that  which  is  its  untransferable  characteristic 
is  that  IT  TEACHES  THE  BiBLE.  And  it  is  the 
only  seminary  in  the  world  of  which  the 
great  and  universal  text-book  is  the  Bible. 
Our  public  schools  are,  in  a  worldly  sense, 
the  glory  of  our  States.  Those  palaces 
where  thousands  are  taught,  let  it  be  re- 
peated, merit  the  visits  and  admiration  of 
strangers  more  than  any  or  all  the  luxurious 

llo 


116  THE   BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

mansions  of  the  proud.  But  the  Bible  is 
not  that  which  these  are  instituted  to  teach. 
Other  schools  exist,  sustained  by  private 
enterprise,  in  some  of  which  the  word  of 
God  has  a  measure  of  respect ;  but  none  of 
these  are  set  up  expressly  to  explain  and 
inculcate  it.  There  are  valuable  colleges, 
many  of  which  were  founded  to  provide 
ministers  of  the  gospel.  In  the  most  of 
them  there  is  some  Bible-stud}-  on  Sundays, 
and  in  a  number  of  them  some  lessons  once 
a  week  on  the  Greek  Testament;  but  in 
none  of  them,  nor  in  any  college  or  uni- 
versity in  the  world,  is  the  sacred  volume 
the  grand  paramount  object  of  investiga- 
tion ;  whereas,  in  the  Sunday-school  the 
Bible  is  the  thing  taught,  and  other  things  are 
taught  in  order  to  explain  it.  The  auxiliary 
books  and  lessons  are  expedients  to  lift  the 
feeble  up  to  the  text.  The  alphabet  and 
primer  are  such.  The  historical  manual 
is  a  gathering  together  of  the  historical 
truths  of  the  Bible.     The  Geography  is  an 


THE   BIBLE-SCHOOL.  117 

epitome  of  the  geographical  truths  in  the 
Bible.  The  Antiquities  is  a  summary  of 
the  archseological  truths  of  the  Bible.  And 
the  Doctrinal  Catechism  is  a  syllabus  of  the 
doctrinal  truths  of  the  Bible.  Every  pro- 
perly-conducted Sunday-school  is  therefore 
a  Bible-school;  and  it  is  this  above  all  which 
makes  me  love  the  institution,  and  inspires 
hope  for  the  future  of  our  country,  in  which 
it  has  taken  such  deep  root. 

It  is  true,  that  Sunday-schools  are  not 
always  what  they  profess  to  be ;  and,  in  my 
opinion,  they  cease  to  be  so  in  proportion 
as  they  lose  their  Sunday-school  character. 
When  they  were  first  set  up  in  England,  it 
was  usual  to  teach  in  them  not  only  read- 
ing, but  writing  and  arithmetic,  and  this  by 
paid  teachers.  Within  our  memory,  the 
methods  in  America  were  unformed  and 
the  helps  for  Bible-study  were  few.  The 
case  is  widely  different  now;  and  even  a 
minister  might  be  quite  respectably  pro- 
vided by  means  of  the  apparatus  furnished 


118  THE    BIBLE-SCnOOL. 

for  Sundaj-scliool  teachers.  Schools  and 
teachers  vary  from  one  another  as  to  the 
degree  in  which  the  word  of  God  is  made 
the  commanding  subject  of  instruction ;  but 
those  schools  and  those  teachers  best  accom- 
plish the  end  and  most  bring  out  the  force 
of  the  engine  who  keep  before  them,  as  the 
one  point,  the  Bible !  the  Bible  !  the  Bible ! 
The  Sunday-school  library  is  a  good  thing; 
but  it  is  infinitely  below  this,  our  com- 
pendious, portable,  inspired  library.  Even 
those  works — and  they  are  the  best  on  its 
shelves — which  recommend,  elucidate  and 
apply  the  Scriptures,  are  unspeakably  less 
important  than  the  Scriptures  themselves. 
The  oral  instructions  w^hich  are  uttered  by 
faithful  teachers  are  of  great  use ;  but, 
among  them  all,  none  are  so  likely  to  leave 
a  blessing  as  those  which  make  the  inspired 
text  plain  to  every  infant  mind.  Teachers 
who  have  themselves  learned  the  advantage 
of  having  in  their  remembrance  large  por- 
tions of  Scripture  will  never  fail  to  impress 


THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL.  119 

on  children  the  necessity  of  committing  to 
memory  with  exactness  at  least  the  entire 
lesson  of  the  week,  with  the  parallel 
places  which  explain  it.  Having  been,  in 
one  or  another  capacity,  busied  about  Sun- 
day-schools for  forty  years,  I  venture  my 
judgment,  that  if  a  pupil  must  forego  one 
or  the  other — the  explanation  of  the  mean- 
ing by  question  and  answer,  or  the  posses- 
sion of  the  text  in  his  memory  verbatim — 
he  had  better  let  go  the  former.  TVith  those 
attainments  which  such  knowledge  insures 
or  infers,  there  is  no  part  of  household  and 
juvenile  learning  so  valuable  as  what,  in 
good  old  idiomatic  mother-English,  is  called 
getting  verses  hy  heart. 

Beloved  children,  having  almost  worn 
out  my  eyes  by  reading  and  study,  let  me 
testify  to  you,  of  all  I  ever  learned  I  most 
prize  what  is  level  to  you  all, — i.  e.  the  know- 
ledge of  the  English  Bible;  and  for  one  verse  that 
I  know  by  heart  I  wish  I  knew  a  hundred. 

To  accomplish  the  ends  sought,  Sunday- 


120  THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

schools  must  be  so  conducted  as  to  make 
the  Bible  stand  forth,  high  and  prominent, 
as  that  without  which  the  institution  were 
superfluous  and  nugatory.  This  must  be 
made  apparent  to  the  veriest  child.  In  order 
to  this,  the  teacher  must  not  be  ignorant ; 
and,  that  he  may  not  be  ignorant,  he  must 
not  be  slothful.  Intelligent  children  keenly 
pry  into  the  weaknesses  of  their  instructors. 
While  there  is  nothing  in  the  work  that 
demands  extraordinary  genius  or  talents, 
there  is  every  thing  to  require  sedulous 
study.  And  that  teacher  must  be  super- 
ficial and  unprovided,  and  will  presently 
retire  from  the  ranks,  who  postpones  his 
preparations  till  the  latter  part  of  the  week. 
It  is  one  of  the  happiest  signs  of  the  times 
that  so  many  thousands  of  teachers  are  every 
week  laboriously  studying  the  Scriptures 
in  order  to  teach  others.  The  effect  of  this 
is  becoming  visible  in  our  literature  and 
our  pulpits.  Never  was  the  demand  so 
great  for    books    explaining    the   Bible  in 


THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL.  121 

its  language,  style,  antiquities,  geography 
and  philosophy;  never  was  there  a  more 
rapid  return  to  expository  preaching.  This 
reflex  influence  of  the  Sunday-school  has 
not  heen  sufficiently  recognised.  If  minis- 
ters of  the  gospel  would  not  fall  behind 
many  of  their  young  parishioners,  they 
must  bestir  themselves  to  acquire  an  inti« 
mate  knowledge  of  the  Bible. 

These  remarks  fall  properly  to  the  share 
of  all  who  are  teachers,  even  though  it  be 
in  that  oldest  and  best  of  all  schools,  the 
family.  "When  your  class  is  around  you, 
and  when  with  eager  eyes  and  intent  coun- 
tenances they  show  their  openness  to  all 
you  have  to  offer,  what  can  you  pour  into 
the  waiting  mould  so  costly  as  God's  own 
words?  "AVhat  can  you  impart  so  needful 
as  the  direct  exposition  of  the  sacred  text  ? 
This  is  even  more  indispensable  than  all 
the  exhortations  and  entreaties  which  most 
properly  and  profitably  you  append  to  it. 
And,  if  I  might  speak  my  mind,  I  would 

11 


122  THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

frankly  o^^•n  that  Sundaj-school  classes  have 
suffered  greatly  from  loquacious  teachers,  who, 
from  intemperate  zeal  or  a  fondness  for 
njere  talk,  have  occupied  a  large  part  of 
their  short  hour  in  harangues  and  narra- 
tives. For  the  same  reason,  we  have  cause 
to  be  jealous  of  a  class  of  volunteer  and  iti- 
nerant exhorters,  who,  especially  in  towns, 
occupy  large  portions  of  that  time  which 
regular  teachers,  under  their  responsible 
superintendent,  could  better  dispose  of  in 
prayer,  praise  and  study  of  the  word.  In- 
deed, the  time  is  so  brief  which  is  allotted 
to  Sunday-school  learning  that  it  is  hard  to 
perceive  how^  any  truly-awakened  and  care- 
fully-instructed teacher  can  have  any  spare 
moments  left  upon  his  hands. 

K  our  eyes  could  be  opened  to  discern 
the  Sunday-school  and  family-school  sys- 
tem—  and  for  the.  purposes  here  in  view 
they  are  one  and  the  same — if  w^e  could 
take  in  the  extent  and  strength  and  esti- 
!nate    the   propagative   energy  and  law  of 


THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL.  128 

increase  which  it  contains,  we  shoukl  hail 
it  as  the  most  impregnable  fortification 
against  infidel  and  Popish  aggression.  And 
this  it  is,  just  because  it  is  a  Bible-school. 
This  is  the  standard  lifted  when  our  old 
enemy  "cometh  in  like  a  flood."  "Thou 
hast  given  a  banner  to  them  that  fear  thee, 
that  it  may  be  displayed  because  of  thy 
truth."*  The  strength  of  reformed  Chris- 
tianity has  been  in  a  free  Bible  universally 
read.  Sunday-schools  and  family-schools 
come  pow^erfully  in  to  promote  the  free- 
dom and  the  universality  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. If  from  bishops  and  archbishops  we 
come  at  length  to  have  American  cardi- 
nals and  pope,  any  child  may  prophesy 
we  shall  have  no  Sunday-schools.  Instead 
of  an  instance  here  and  there,  when  some 
infuriate  priest,  too  fresh  from  Maynooth, 
forgets  his  longitude,  and  tears  or  burns  a 
single  Bible,  (we  all  know  why,)  we  shall 

*  Psalm  Ix.  3. 


124  THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

have  Bibles  searched  for  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet,  and  sleek  armies  of  shaven 
Inquisitors  ridding  the  whole  land  of  the 
hated  volume.  Blessed  be  God,  every 
Sunday-school  child  is  a  meek  missionary 
against  the  Pope !  Think  you  that  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  pure  American  girls 
now  in  schools  with  Bibles  in  their  hands 
are  likely  to  resort  each  to  the  privacy  of 
an  unwedded  ecclesiastic,  to  unbosom  secret 
thoughts  at  his  bidding  and  at  the  pleasure 
of  his  interrogatories  ?  I  trow  not !  It  is 
this  Bible-school  which  is  countermining  all 
the  works  of  the  adversary.  Increase  Sun- 
day-schools by  the  ten  thousand,  and  you 
levy  an  invincible  reformation-army.  When 
Chillingworth  uttered  that  immortal  doc- 
trine, "The  Bible,  the  Bible  is  the  reli- 
gion of  Protestants,"  he  declared  not  only  a 
maxim  of  theological  truth  for  all  time,  but 
pronounced  a  fact  the  history  of  the  evan- 
gelic church.  It  is  the  criterion  of  the  true 
church  that  it  honours  the  loord  of  God.     Re- 


THE   BIBLE-SCHOOL.  125 

formed  Christianity  has  dug  the  Bible  out 
of  its  heaps  of  Romish  rubbish  ;  has  trans- 
lated it;  has  placed  it  in  churches  to  be 
read  and  heard ;  has  made  it  the  theme 
of  preaching  and  comment;  has  sent  it 
among  the  nations ;  has  bestowed  it  upon 
the  child.  History  will  take  you  by  the 
hand,  and,  leading  you  through  all  pure 
Protestant  Christendom,  will  show  you  that 
no  church  or  church-member  has  taken  one 
step  without  this  torch  to  lead  the  way. 
Wiclif  and  Luther,  Calvin  and  Cranmer, 
are  equally  marked  by  this  characteristic. 
While  Popery  denies  the  book  even  to  the 
adult,  save  under  certain  restrictions,  Pro- 
testantism bestows  it  on  the  child.  And  the 
more  we  carr}^  out  this  principle, — that  the 
Bible  is  the  text-hook  of  Christian  education, — 
the  more  shall  our  Protestantism  be  genu- 
ine and  operative,  '^o  tongue  can  tell,  be- 
cause no  mind  can  measure,  how  much  we 
owe  to  the  persistency  and  zeal  with  which 

our  forefathers  clung  to  the  word  of  God. 

11* 


126  THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

They  were  not  satisfied  unless  it  were 
largely  read  and  statedly  expounded  in 
the  house  of  the  Lord.  Most  of  the  dis- 
courses of  Luther,  Calvin,  Knox,  Melvill, 
Rollock  and  Bruce,  (and  some  of  them 
preached  almost  daily,)  were  expositions  of 
Scripture.  From  the  dawn  of  the  first  Re- 
formation 4ill  this  hour  it  has  been  the  cus- 
tom in  Scotland  for  the  minister  to  make 
the  Sabbath-morning  exercise  a  lecture  on 
some  continued  portion  of  Scripture  in 
regular  course.  Ever  since  Bibles  were 
accessible  it  has  been  the  practice  for  the 
same  Scripture-loving  people  to  carry  their 
Bibles  to  church  and  to  turn  up  every  pas- 
sage read  or  cited.  The  same  was  uni- 
versal among  the  Puritan  Independents 
and  other  non-conformists  of  New  Ens:- 
land.  The  usage  remains  in  undiminished 
prevalence  in  Scotland,  while  it  has  fallen 
into  general  desuetude  in  England  and  Ame- 
rica. It  tended  with  incalculable  power  t(» 
make  the  masses  of  the  people  from  child 


THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL.  127 

liood  familiar  with  the  text  of  inspiration, 
and  to  cherish  a  fondness  for  textual  re- 
search. Thousands  have  Bibles  who  know 
little  of  their  contents.  Make  trial,  and 
you  will  observe  that  they  do  not  know 
the  order  of  sacred  books,  and  stagger 
even  at  the  mechanical  business  of  look- 
ing out  a  verse.  Something  is  gained 
when  a  child  is  trained  to  facility  in  find- 
ing places  in  Scripture.  He  learns  to  de- 
light in  it,  and  knowledge  grows  apace. 
In  the  fascinating  biography  of  Mrs.  Sher- 
wood we  learn  at  once  the  oris-in  of  her 
Biblical  story-books  and  the  method  of  her 
family  instruction.  The  children  were  en- 
couraged and  trained,  from  their  earliest 
years,  not  merely  to  read  the  Bible,  but  to 
turn  it  over  from  beginning  to  end  in 
laborious  quest  of  particular  doctrines  or 
facts.  Thus  they  acquired  for  life  the  in- 
valuable habit  of  searching,  as  well  as 
perusing,  the  Scriptures.  That  is  a  happy 
teacher,  in  nursery  or  school,  who  inspires 


128  THE   BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

every  learner  with  a  love  for  Holy  Writ, 
a  disposition  to  fly  to  it  with  every  doubt- 
ful question,  and  an  ardour  in  searching  the 
Bible  for  special  purposes.  And  that  is 
a  happy  child  who  has  been  early  trained 
to  turn  over  the  blessed  pages  for  proofs 
of  doctrine,  for  warnings,  for  rules  of  life, 
and  for  precious  promises.  In  the  observ- 
ance of  such  principles,  the  Sunday-school 
teacher  will  be  led  to  numerous  details  of 
method  suited  to  particular  cases. 

In  ascribing  such  value  to  the  influence 
of  Sunday-schools  in  difl:using  scriptural 
knowledge,  it  is  not  our  intention  to  throw 
into  the  shade  the  greater  influence,  within 
their  own  sphere,  of  those  more  ancient  and 
permanent  institutions,  the  Family  and  the 
Church.  And  the  opportunity  thus  afforded 
is  favourable  for  giving  a  quietus  to  an  ob- 
jection which  is  sometimes  made  against 
our  scheme,  as  though  it  trenched  upon  the 
riorhts  or  thrust  itself  into  the  duties  of 
both   family   and   church.      The   objectors 


THE   BIBLE-SCHOOL.  121) 

assume  the  protection   of  these  venerable 
social  organizations,  and  talk  as  if  the  Sun- 
day-school was  usurping   the  place  of  pa- 
rents and  ministers.  Were  this  true,  it  would 
be  fatal  to  our  cause ;  but  it  is  not  true,  and 
the   reasoning    is   shallow.      The    Sunday- 
school  teaches  religion ;  but  this  is  the  busi- 
ness of  parents;  "hence,"  argue  they,  "the 
Sunday-school   is  a  mischievous  busybody 
in   other   men's   matters."     But   the   same 
reasoning  would    do   away   with   common 
schools  also.     In  both  cases,  the  work  of 
the  school  is  supplementary  or  subsidiary 
to  that    of  the   parent.     The  Sunday-school 
releases  no  2Mrent  from  the  ohligation  to  train  hi'i 
offspring  in  the  Scrijytw^es.     In  instances  be- 
yond enumeration  it  stimulates  and  guides 
and  helps  the  parental  effort.     K,  in  some 
strange  instance,  ignorant  and  careless  pa- 
rents feel  absolved  from  the  domestic  duty 
by  this  auxiliary  of  modern  times,  there  are 
contrary  instances,  tenfold  more  numerous, 
of  parents  and  families  who,  from  the  con- 


130  THE   BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

oectiou  of  their  children  with  Sunday- 
schools,  have  first  become  awake  to  the 
duty  of  instructins:  them  and  first  learned 
the  method'^  of  performing  it.  In  the  rea- 
sonings which  are  common  on  this  subject 
there  is  one  extraordinary  assumption,  to 
wit :  that  every  child  who  goes  to  a  Sunday- 
school  is  thereby  abstracted  from  a  domestic 
circle  in  which  his  parents  stand  ready  to 
give  him  this  instruction  in  a  more  scrip- 
tural manner.  But  this  is  so  far  from  beini? 
true,  that  the  majority  of  those  whom  we 
draw  into  Sunday-schools  enjoy  no  religious 
culture  whatever  at  home.  It  is  this,  or  no- 
thing. Do  you  rejoin,  ''Parents  ought  to 
be  taught  to  teach  their  offspring"  ?  We 
say  so  too ;  and  this  is  one  among  several 
ways  of  so  teaching  parents.  If  our  blessed 
institution  were  put  upon  its  trial  in  regard 
to  the  single  point  of  family  instruction, 
family  training  and  family  religion,  it  would 
be  found  to  have  done  enough  in  this  very 
particular  to  perpetuate  its  claims  for  sup- 


THE   BIBLE-SCHOOL.  131 

port  if  it  had  clone  uotbing  else.  In  tliose 
cases  where  the  parents  are  faithful  Chris- 
tian teachers  and  trainers,  they  will  as- 
suredly not  be  the  less  zealously  such  be- 
cause their  little  ones  spend  an  hour  or  two 
of  the  Sabbath  under  auxiliary  instruction. 
So  far  as  my  obsei^ation  goes,  they  will 
be  more  so.  As  well  might  parents  plead 
exemption  from  domestic  inculcation  of 
divine  things  because  their  children  go 
to  hear  the  gospel  preached.  The  Sun- 
day-school, therefore,  is  not  justly  charged 
with  lessening  the  powers  of  family  edu- 
cation. 

As  falsely  is  it  accused  of  thrusting  itself 
into  the  functions  of  the  church.  This  ob- 
jection is  sometimes  made  so  vaguely  that 
it  is  difficult  to  meet  its  precise  edge  and 
point  as  we  are  prompt  to  do.  There  are 
certain  notions  abroad,  of  the  church  and 
of  churchman  ship,  which  we  remand  to 
their  proper  homes  in  Eome  and  Oxford. 
Those  who  are  likely  to  read  these  pages 


132  THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

do  not  recognise  a  church  as  made  up 
wholly  of  clerg}' ;  nor  do  they  consider  only 
those  as  church-acts  which  are  performed 
in  consecrated  huildings,  or  during  sanc- 
tuary service.  Religious  education  is  a  func- 
tion of  the  church;  but  how  she  shall  dis- 
charge it,  as  to  instruments  and  details, 
is  left  to  her  Christian  discretion,  under 
acknowledged  principles  of  ecclesiastical 
order  and  freedom.  She  may  conduct 
Scripture  instruction  by  the  written  word, 
translated,  copied,  printed  and  dispersed ; 
by  expositions  and  sermons,  preached 
through  pulpit  and  press;  by  ministerial 
inculcation  of  divine  knowled2:e  to  the 
children  of  the  church,  sino-lv  and  in 
classes;  by  parochial  and  other  schools,  in 
which  the  salvation  of  the  soul  is  regarded 
in  every  day's  lessons ;  and,  above  all,  by 
the  voice  of  the  mother  and  the  father  at 
the  nursery  and  fireside.  All  these  are  but 
so  many  various  cases  under  the  one  com- 
mission   to  tlie    CHURCH    AS    A    TEACHER.      In 


THE   BIBLE-SCHOOL.  133 

one  and  all  the  Bible  is  the  matter  of  the 
instruction. 

That  part  of   the  church's  work  which 
consists  in  teaching  and  training  the  igno- 
rant, and    especially  the  young,  has  been 
from  early  Greek  times  known  as  catechizing  ; 
not  merely  questioning  and  answering,  but 
the  whole  round  of  instruction   in   Bible 
truth,  salvation  by  Christ,  belief  and  duty. 
In  no  aiJ-e  of  the  church  has  this  been  re- 
garded  as  less  incumbent  on  her  than  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  in  its  narrow  sense. 
It  precedes  that  preaching.  AVhere  labourers 
are  few,  it  is  performed   by  the  preachers 
themselves.     When  numbers  increase,  and 
there  arises  division  of  labour,  this  Bible- 
teaching  is  committed  in  part,  and  under 
church-superintendency,  to  persons  detailed 
for  that  purpose.     In  the  early  church  these 
persons  were  called  catechists;    and  it  was 
never  supposed  that  they  invaded  the  au- 
thority of  either  parents  or  clergy.    Sunday- 
school  teachers  are  catechists^  and,  so    far  as 

12 


134  THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

the}'  do  tliis  work  under  warrant  of  the 
church,  are  church  catechists.     The  church, 
if  she  is  wise,  instead  of  looking  askance 
at  them  and  jealously  opposing  them,  will 
subsidize    them.      They  are  a  part  of  the 
church,  trained  in  her  bosom,   doing  her 
work,  seeking    her  welfare  and  amenable 
to  her  jurisdiction.      If  they  teach  error, 
or    transcend  limits,  let  church-authorities 
see  to  it;  schoolmasters  and  professors  and 
parents  may  do  the  like.     But  let  no  high- 
church  whimseys  of  ours  represent  that  as 
extraneous  to  the  church,  or  as  militatinef 
against  it,  which  is  in  very  deed  part  of  its 
structure  and  mightily  conducive  to  its  in- 
crease.     If    Sunday-schools    encroach    on 
ministers,  it  is  the  minister's  fault.     Let  me 
say,  as  a  pastor  not  without  some  experience 
in   the  work,  so  far  from   cherishing   anj^ 
alarms    at    the    growth   of    Sunday-school 
teachers,  or  jealousy  lest  they  should  over- 
shadow my  professional  influence,  I  lament 
only  that  I  do  n-i^,t  behold  around  me  ten  for 


THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL.  135 

one.  And,  while  the^^  continue  to  teach  the 
Bible  in  the  manner  hereinbefore  laid 
down,  I  bid  them  God  speed.  Though 
Eldad  and  Me  dad  should  prophesy,  the 
pastor  who  knows  where  his  strength  lies 
will  still  reply,  "Enviest  thou  for  my  sake? 
Would  God  that  all  the  Lord's  people  were 
prophets,  and  that  the  Lord  would  put  his 
Spirit  upon  them!"'*'  Our  hope  for  the 
church,  our  hope  for  the  commonwealth,  is 
in  God's  blessing  upon  his  holy  word.  Of 
what  avail  is  it  to  teach  science,  letters  and 
art  to  the  multitudes,  unless  we  teach  them 
the  Bible?  The  case  is  so  plain  that  the 
difficulty  is  to  state  it  so  as  not  to  utter  flat 
commonplaces.  Yet  simple,  straightforward 
truth  is  mighty ;  and  let  it  be  uttered : — ^If  we 
can  onl}'  imbue  our  whole  juvenile  popula- 
tion with  the  truths  of  Scripture,  we  shall 
rear  an  insurmountable  bulwark  ao-ainst  the 
assaults  of   heresy,  fanaticism,  skepticism, 

*  Numb.  X,  29. 


136  THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

atheism  and  Romanism.  The  teaching  of 
this  one  compendious  volume  itself  confers 
an  education.  Here  is  simplicity  for  the 
babe ;  here  are  depths  for  the  philosopher. 
He  who,  without  other  books,  enters  into 
the  riches  of  this  book,  possessing  its  vene- 
rable histories  in  his  memory  and  picturing 
them  in  imagination,  holding  its  doctrines 
methodized  in  his  understanding,  regaling 
the  soul  upon  its  covenant  grace  in  Christ 
Jesus,  soaring  on  the  pinions  of  its  glorious 
psalmody  and  musing  with  comprehensive 
gaze  in  its  symbolic  chambers  of  prophetic 
poesy, — he,  though  poor  and  simple,  is  an 
accomplished  man.  We  have  known  such 
— men  of  the  plough  and  the  loom — who 
yet  deserved  to  be  reckoned  men  of  learn- 
ing, because  they  were  learned  in  God's 
book.  I  contemn  and  repudiate  the  apolo- 
getic language  of  the  patronizing  worldling 
who  admits  that  the  Bible  is  fit  to  be 
honoured  because  it  makes  the  masses  good. 
It  does  so.     But  it  does  more ;   and  let  the 


THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL.  137 

arrogant  worldliDg  know  it: — it  makes  those 
who  study  it  great.  It  is  at  once  a  cyclo- 
psedia  and  a  discipline.  And  if  to  thou- 
sands of  Christian  j^rofessors  this  sounds  as 
an  exaggeration,  it  is  because  they  know  so 
little  of  Scripture  in  its  more  recondite 
parts.  Wherever  we  set  up  a  Sunday-school 
we  go  a  certain  length  towards  removing 
this  ignorance.  What  a  priceless  favour  is 
conferred  upon  a  young  professor,  when  he 
is  led  to  some  real  personal  acquaintance 
with  the  riches  that  lie  within  his  plain, 
familiar  English  Bible.  Ah  !  he  rejoices — 
it  is  the  Scripture's  figure — "as  one  that 
findeth  great  spoil."  Such  an  awakening 
Christian  begins  to  see  that  he  need  not  go 
far  beyond  his  own  house  for  exquisite  en- 
joyment. The  craving  appetite  for  novelty 
in  religious  books  is  one  of  the  snares  of 
the  age ;  it  is  best  avoided  by  acquiring  a 
sincere  taste  for  the  delio-htful  truths  and 
beauties  and  sanctities  of  the  Scripture. 
Those  schools  where  the  Bible  is  in  its  pro- 

12* 


138  THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

per  place  cultivate  this  spirit.  Those  fami- 
lies where,  as  is  our  Christian  usage,  the 
Bihle  is  read  at  the  family  devotions  every 
morning  and  every  evening,  are  themselves 
so  many  Bible-schools.  Those  preachers 
who  make  the  text  of  Scripture  the  grand 
material  of  their  discourses,  bringing  out 
from  this  treasury  things  new  and  old,  rather 
than  seeking  to  electrify  corpse-like  assem- 
blies by  startling  themes  from  politics  and 
the  times — in  other  words,  who  so  preach  as 
to  send  their  hearers  home  to  the  Bible  wi'th 
renewed  zest — will  perhaps  be  less  conspi- 
cuous themselves,  but  will  elevate  the 
standard  of  the  gospel.  And  those  churches 
in  which  the  zealous  social  study  of  the 
word  becomes  a  characteristic  and  fostered 
employment  will  grow  in  grace  and  with- 
stand the  seducing  influences  which  are 
drawing  numbers  away  to  new  or  revived 
absurdities  in  religion.  In  a  word,  our 
warmth  in  favour  of  these  schools  arises 
from   our  ])ersuasion  that  thev  are  Bible- 


THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL.  139 

schools.     Let  tliem  be  multiplied.     Instead 
of  mean  little  fears   and  carnal  jealousies 
as  to  certain  minor  evils  or  possible  ill-ten- 
dencies—  often,  it  may  be,  incidental  and  aot 
essential  to  the  system — let  us  send  these 
Bible-teachers  all  over  the  world.    Let  them 
anticipate  the  preacher,  the  sacraments,  ana 
even  the  church,  in  those  wilds  where  the 
first  green  token  of  genuine  civilization  is 
that  grove,  or  spring-side,  or  spreading  tree, 
where  forest  or  prairie-children  meet  toge- 
ther, to  learn  of  Jesus,  long,  long  before 
these  late  solitudes  have  been  weakened  by 
the  sound  of  ''the  church-going-bell."    Let 
us,  above  all  things  else,  send  the  book  and 
the  lesson  w^hich  make  wise  unto  salvation 
through  faith  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.     This 
is  the  reading  and  teaching  for  the  masses  : 
it  saves  the  soul.     How  ungracious,  how  un- 
founded, is  the  sneer  which  I  have  lately 
met  in  a  Christian  book,  where  the  writer 
seems  to  lament  that,  in  modern  days,  addi- 
tions  to   the    communion   are    reported  as 


140  THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

being  chiefly  "from  the  Sunday-schools," 
and  not,  as  in  a  better  day,  from  the  family ! 
We  have  seen  something  of  such  additions, 
blessing  the  God  of  grace  for  them ;  and 
we  know,  first,  that  the  cases  are  largely 
from  school  and  family  at  once ;  and,  se- 
condly, that  where  this  is  not  the  case  it  is 
chiefly  because  the  Sunday-school  has  really 
overleaped  the  limits  of  existing  congrega- 
tions, and  become  a  missionary  to  hundreds 
of  thousands  who  owned  no  Christian 
parentage.  And  have  we  lived  to  hear  this 
as  a  reproach?  Shall  our  bigoted  selfish- 
ness keep  us  forever  croaking  and  grumb- 
ling and  dwindling  within  the  narrow  walls 
which  our  fathers  reared,  when  the  broad 
land  is  before  us,  every  acre  of  which  is  to 
be  occupied  by  Christ's  friends  or  Christ's 
foes  ?  Ko !  let  the  name  of  the  Lord  be 
praised,  we  long  to  welcome  not  only  those 
who  have  had,  even  in  Christendom,  no 
Christian  parents,  but  very  Gentiles — the 
Chinaman,  the  Hindoo,  and  the  Kaflir.     If 


THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL.  '     141 

Sunday-schools  be  not  unfaithful  to  their 
high  commission,  we  shall  more  and  more 
see  the  "son  of  the  stranger"  hastening  to 
our  Sabbaths  and  our  covenant,  and  hear 
God  saying  of  such,  "  Even  unto  them 
will  I  give  in  mine  house,  and  within  my 
walls,  a  place  and  a  name  better  than  of 
sons  and  of  daughters."* 

Priesthood  naturally  hates  Sunday-schools. 
So  long  as  other  means  which  we  know  of 
are  not  convenient  for  the  suppression  of 
all  such  schools,  Romanism  borrows  the 
name,  and  sets  up  Sunday-schools  ;  but — you 
will  mark — they  are  not  -Bz6^e-schools.  To 
make  eifectual  a  machinery  of  which  Scrip- 
ture is  the  motive-power, — the  very  water 
and  steam  that  turns  every  wheel, — we  must 
have  teachers  who  know  something  about 
the  Bible.  It  will  be  a  monstrous  spectacle, 
if,  when  the  text-book  of  Sunday-schools 
shall  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  professing 


*  Isa.  Ivi.  5. 


^^-  THE    BIBLE-SCHOOL. 

Christian,  well  read  in  other  literature,  it 
should  convey  to  him  no  real  meaning  and 
he  utterly  closed ;  or  if,  when  presented  to  a 
teacher  in  humbler  walks  of  learnins:,  he 
should  profess  his  inability  to  explain  it. 
"  And  the  vision  of  all  is  become  unto  you 
as  the  words  of  a  book  that  is  sealed,  which 
men  deliver  to  oue  that  is  learned,  saying. 
Read  this,  I  pray  thee ;  and  he  saith,  I  can- 
not ;  for  it  is  sealed :  and  the  book  is  deli- 
vered to  him  that  is  not  learned,  saying, 
Read  this,  I  pray  thee :  and  he  saith,  I  am 
not  learned."*  Search  the  Scriptures,  live 
in  the  atmosphere  of  their  truth  and  holi- 
ness ;  commune  with  God  in  his  own  uttered 
wisdom;  sit  among  prophets,  psalmists, 
evangelists  and  apostles ;  for  in  this  is 
eternal  life.f 


*  Isa.  xxix.  11   12.  -)-  John  v.  39. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   INCREASE   OF   KNOWLEDGE   BY   BOOKS. 

When  the  matter  first  comes  before  the 
mind,  it  may  not  be  altogether  manifest 
how  religious  education  by  Sunday-schools 
connects  itself  with  books,  or  why  Sunday- 
school  associations,  almost  everywhere,  have 
sooner  or  later  become  producers  of  books. 
This,  however,  is  not  peculiar  to  our  me- 
thods of  training  young  and  otherwise  un- 
disciplined persons ;  as  we  may  see  by  the 
cases  of  the  British  and  Foreign  School 
Society,  the  ITational  School  Society  of  Ire- 
land, &c. 

In  all  these  instances  the  same  causes 
have  been  at  work.  First,  the  very  pro- 
cesses of  instruction  demand  some  compo- 
sitions, and  peculiar  processes  demand  pe- 

143 


144   INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY    BOOKS. 

enliar  compositions.  The  methods,  for  ex- 
ample, of  Jacotot,  of  Hamilton,  and  of 
Ollendoi-ff,  have  each  required  and  occa- 
sioned manuals  of  a  particular  kind.  Then, 
the  taste  and  talent  developed  by  any  course 
of  mental  res-imen  in  schools  seek  for 
pabulum.  When  we  have  awakened  an  ap- 
petite for  reading,  we  must  provide  books 
to  satisfy  it.  Hence  our  familiarity  with 
libraries  as  connected  with  schools ;  and 
hence  the  wisdom — I  might  say  the  neces- 
^ity — of  a  house  of  publication,  in  order  to 
make  the  Sunday-school  organization  widely 
effective. 

ITevertheless,  we  must  go  a  little  further 
back  to  comprehend  in  its  true  bearing  the 
printed  volume  as  allied  to  religious  educa- 
tion. Schools  and  Books  will  strike  us  as 
^'oupled  together  by  a  providential  arrange- 
ment and  a  real  principle,  when  we  submit 
to  examination  this  more  general  topic  of 
the  increase  of  Imowtedge  by  hooks.  It  will 
contribute   towards  a  fuller  understandins: 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY    BOOKS.    14") 

of  a  matter  which  increases  iu  interest  clay 
by  day,  if  we  premise  some  inquiries  about 
Language,  about  Books,  and  about  Print- 
ing. AVe  must  add  to  this  some  survey 
(which  must  be  exceedingly  rapid)  of  the 
course  of  Providence  in  regard  to  modern 
improvements  in  the  arts,  and  the  com- 
merce of  man  with  man  and  country  with 
country,  including  the  unexampled  spread 
of  our  own  English  tongue  over  the  globe. 
These  things,  in  connection  with  the  prin- 
ciple of  combination  or  associate  action  in 
behalf  of  philanthropic  ends,  can  hardly 
fail,  however  cursorily  viewed,  to  stimulate 
us  in  the  endeavour  to  make  and  disperse 
good  books  in  connection  with  Sunday- 
schools. 

The  great  instrument  of  human  progress 
is  Language^ — the  means  of  communication 
between  man  and  man.  Without  it  man 
would  have  remained  forever  savage  and 
almost  brutal,  and   there  could  have  been 

13 


146    INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY  BOOKS. 

110  invention  nor  progress.  For  wliicli  rea- 
son we  reject  the  opinion  of  those  Avho,  like 
Dr.  Blair  and  other  misleaders  of  onr  youth, 
pretend  that  man  invented  language :  the 
very  invention  presupposes  a  civilization 
and  convention  which  only  language  can 
effect.  Revelation  shows  us  that  the  first 
man  was  endowed  with  speech ;  and  all  our 
speculations  on  the  subject  tend  to  the  same 
result. 

B}'  means  of  language  we  look  into  one 
another's  souls  and  auo:ment  the  stock  of 
general  knowledge ;  we  learn  the  will  ot 
God,  and  transmit  it  to  others;  we  indulge 
the  social  aftections  and  give  utterance  to 
the  best  wishes  of  the  heart  towards  God  as 
well  as  man. 

The  human  race  mio-ht  exist  a  lono-  time 
without  written  lans^uao^e.  The  invention 
has  by  some  been  attributed  to  Closes. 
But  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  it 
is  of  far  earlier  date.  In  the  long  ages  be- 
i'ore   the   flood,  when   wo   know   that  other 


INCREASE    OF    K>:OWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS.    147 

arts  sprung  up,  and  when  the  length  of  hu- 
man life  afibrcled  room  for  long  experience, 
we  may  reasonably  conjecture  that  the  use 
of  letters  did  not  lie  concealed.  When- 
soever revealed,  or  by  whomsoever  invent- 
ed, it  is  one  of  God's  richest  gifts  to  the 
race,  and  marks  one  of  the  most  important 
epochs  in  history.  From  this  moment  man 
can  converse  with  the  absent,  the  distant, 
and  even  the  unborn  ;  he  can  record  his 
acts,  words  and  feelings,  and  those  of  his 
fellows,  his  communications  from  heaven 
and  his  returns  of  praise  in  psalms  and 
prayers.  Writing  aiFords  a  method  not  only 
of  communicating,  but  of  perpetuating, 
thought:  it  is  not  merely  visible  speech, 
but  enduring  speech.  The  lofty  idea  of  a 
Moses  or  a  Homer,  which,  by  mere  words, 
would  have  scattered  to  the  winds,  is  crys- 
tallized and  petrified,  and  laid  up  for  thou- 
sands of  years. 

Writing  may  have  been  employed  very 
long  in  domestic  life,  in  trade,  and  even  on 


148   INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY  BOOKS. 

monuments,  before  it  became  very  common 
in  books.  Familiar  as  the  idea  of  a  book 
is  to  us,  it  involves  and  requires  a  mass  of 
invention  and  a  progress  of  art  which  few 
persons  have  weighed,  and  which  we  come 
to  appreciate  only  by  measuring  the  tardy 
march  of  centuries  from  the  early  marks 
on  rocks  and  bones  up  to  the  present  hour, 
when  the  products  of  the  press  rank  among 
the  noblest  specimens  of  the  Fine  Arts. 
The  ancient  book  differed  as  much  from 
the  modern  book  as  the  hollow^ed  canoe  of 
the  Gauls  from  the  lordliest  ocean-steamer. 
A  w^onderful  providence  is  seen  to  have 
watched  over  the  steps  of  this  invention, 
as  if  keeping  due  pace  with  the  gradual 
diffusion  of  the  gospel.  The  materials  of 
books  in  ancient  times  w^ere  very  different. 
Our  English  word  Book  {Boc)  means  ori- 
ginally the  beech-tree,  of  which  the  smooth 
bark  was  used  for  early  writing.  In  the 
East  Indies  the  natives  write  on  leaves  at 
this  day;   and  this  was  one  of  the  ancient 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY    BOOKS.    149 

ways  of  writing.  Wood  itself  has  been 
much  used.  Such  was  the  writing-table 
on  which  the  name  of  John  was  written 
by  his  father.  The  Romans  covered  these 
tablets  with  wax,  on  which  they  wrote  with 
a  stylus.  I  remember  to  have  seen  one  of 
these  at  Geneva.  The  skins  of  beasts  were 
employed,  as  they  still  are  in  law-writings 
and  in  the  rolls  of  Jewish  synagogues. 
Parchment  and  vellum  were  finer  prepara- 
tions of  this  kind.  Linen  and  cotton,  and 
even  silken,  books,  are  preserved  by  the 
curious.  But  the  most  famous  ancient 
material  was  the  papyrus,  from  which  we 
derive  our  word  paper.  This  was  made 
of  a  sort  of  flag  or  bulrush  which  used  to 
grow  along  the  Xile.  This  was  exported 
to  various  countries, —  especially  to  Italy. 
It  went  out  of  use  in  the  seventh  century, 
when  the  Saracens  subdued  Egypt  and 
thus  broke  up  the  paper-trade.  Books  of 
papyrus,    in   the   shape   of  rolls,  are  daily 

13* 


150    INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    B^    BOOKS. 

found  in  the  mummy-cases  of  Egypt.  The 
ancient  books  were  generally  rolls^  (vo- 
lumes,) which  will  explain  many  allusions 
in  the  Scriptures. 

The  grand  peculiarity,  however,  of  all 
ancient  books,  and  one  which  kept  back 
the  knowledge,  arts,  commerce,  civilization 
and  piety  of  the  world  as  long  as  it  lasted, 
has  not  yet  been  mentioned : — each  book 
was  made  singly  and  by  hand.  Every  letter 
and  point  of  every  volume  on  earth  was 
traced  by  the  distinct,  deliberate  act  of  an 
individual.  AVhat  was  the  consequence? 
Plainly,  that  books  were  slowly  made,  few 
in  number  and  high  in  cost.  This  is  a 
most  importiint  consideration  in  the  chain 
of  providential  events.  Let  any  of  my 
young  readers  think  of  the  labour  of  copy- 
ing out  the  whole  Bible  with  his  own  hand  I 
Yet  it  has  been  done  thousands  and  thou- 
sands of  times.  Copying  was  a  regular 
trade,  just  as  printing  is  now:  and  there 
were  men  who  spent  their  whole  lives  in 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS.    I'A 

copying,  and  who  could  write  with  a  beauty 
and  regularity  unknown  at  the  present  da3\ 
Monks  in  the  monasteries  spent  long  lives 
in  this.  In  the  abbey  of  Marmontier, — the 
most  ancient  that  now  remains  in  France, — 
the  monks  lived  in  separate  cells :  no  art 
or  business  was  permitted  among  them 
save  that  of  writing.  The  same  method 
still  prevails  among  the  Mohammedans, 
who  do  not  favour  printing.  The  cost  of 
what  was  produced  so  slowly  could  not 
but  be  great.  An  incident  is  related  to 
show  this.  In  the  fourth  century,  a  monk 
named  Hilarion  went  by  ship  from  Libj^a 
to  Sicily.  When  he  arrived  at  his  port  he 
offered  to  pay  his  passage  and  that  of  his 
companion  with  a  copy  of  the  Gosj^els,  which 
he  had  written  in  his  youth.  The  captain, 
seeing  they  had  nothing  else,  allowed  them 
to  go  free.  In  609,  Alfred,  King  of  North- 
umberland, gave  eight  hundred  acres  of 
land  for  the  History  of  the  World.  In  the 
tenth  century,  books  were  so  scarce  in  Spain 


152    INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOK'S. 

that  the  same  volume  used  to  serve  for  seve- 
ral monasteries.  In  1424,  a  mass-book  sold 
for  five  marks,  (nearly  fifteen  dollars.)  When 
printing  was  invented,  nothing  used  to  sur- 
prise the  people  more  than  that  a  Bible 
could  be  bought  for  forty  crowns.  After 
the  cessation  of  papyrus,  it  is  to  be  ob- 
served that  all  these  books  were  written 
on  skins,  until  the  invention  of  paper.  Do 
not  wonder  that  I  introduce  the  name  of 
this  familiar  article:  it  bears  too  near  a  re- 
lation to  God's  wonderful  dealino-s  in  re- 
spect  to  human  knowledge  to  be  neglected. 
We  need  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the  in- 
vention of  printing,  of  which  we  justly 
speak  so  much,  would  have  been  of  little 
use  if  it  had  not  been  preceded  by  the  in- 
vention of  so  cheap  and  manageable  a 
fabric  as  ^^o/^er. 

Paper  of  silk  has  been  known  in  China 
for  ages ;  but  China  was  a  country  scarcely 
discovered.  In  the  middle  of  the  seventh 
century,  a  manufactory  of  such  paper  was 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS.    153 

established  at  Samarcaud ;  and  fifty-eight 
years  afterwards,  in  706,  an  Arabian  of 
Mecca  discovered  the  art  of  making  it 
from  cotton.  Linen  paper  is  still  more 
recent.  The  oldest  in  France  is  a  letter 
from  Joinville  to  St.  Louis,  about  1269.  It 
was  long  before  this  art  was  so  widel}^  dif- 
fused in  Europe  as  to  cheapen  the  article ; 
— not,  indeed,  until  the  new  mode  of  pro- 
ducing books  gave  stimulus  to  the  sluggish 
manufacture.  Since  this  book  was  com- 
menced, there  have  been  statements  made 
which  go  to  awaken  fears  lest  the  ordinary 
materials  for  paper  should  fall  short;  and 
prizes  have  been  held  out  for  the  discovery 
of  some  fibre  or  the  invention  of  some  pro- 
cess to  supply  the  deficiency. 

The  greatest  stride  was  made  by  the  iii- 
veniion  of  'printing,  which  changed  the  whole 
method  of  bookmaking,  put  a  new  face  on 
human  society  and  introduced  an  era  in 
the  world's  history.  It  is  now  generally 
admitted  by   the    best   authorities    that   it 


ir>4    INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY    BOOKS. 

was  Gutenberg,  a  patrician  of  ^lentz,  who, 
about  the  years  1438-50,  first  comprehended 
the  largeness  of  the  subject,  and,  gathering 
the  several  approximative  arts  which  had 
existed  for  some  years,  applied  them  to  the 
makins;  of  books.  But  it  is  the  Christian 
view  of  this  invention  with  w^hich  we  are 
concerned.  It  was  as  if  God  had  suddenly 
changed  the  single  right  hand  of  the  poor 
transcriber  into  a  thousand,  and  thrown 
the  door  of  knowledge  open  to  the  poor. 
IN'or  can  we  properly  estimate  the  march 
of  Providence  in  this  matter  unless  we  con- 
sider the  improvements  in  our  own  day, 
especially  in  the  stereotype  process,  the 
application  of  '  team  and  the  concurrent 
invention  of  •  achine-paper,  which  have 
wrought  a  cha..ge  almost  as  great  between 
us  and  early  printing  as  of  that  over  manu- 
script. You  have  only  to  visit  the  printing- 
rooms  of  our  large  publishing  societies,  and 
behold  the  silent  but  resistless  motion  of 
those  ponderous  arms  and  iron  fingers,  and 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY    BOOKS.    155 

the  sudden,  oft-repeated,  perpetual  emerg- 
ing of  broad  pages  at  once,  day  by  day 
and  year  by  year,  to  be  convinced  that, 
when  God  has  a  great  work  to  be  per- 
formed on  earth,  he  will  never  fail  to  pro- 
vide the  most  extraordinary  and  unlikely 
means  for  its  fulfilment.  Let  us  trust  in 
him  for  o^reater  marvels  still,  while  we 
compare  this  multiplication  of  books  by 
thousands  with  the  slow,  life-exhausting 
labours  of  the  old-time  gray-haired  scribe 
in  his  cell. 

Our  view  of  what  Providence  is  planning 
towards  the  spread  of  divine  knowledge 
among  men  must  be,  moreover,  enlarged  so 
as  to  take  in  the  rapid  and  most  unexpected 
improvements  in  all  the  arts,  especially  in 
those  which  tend  to  the  mutual  intercourse 
of  mankind.  Our  own  age  is,  in  this  re- 
spect, an  age  of  wonders,  and  the  last 
twenty  years  are  equal  in  this  scale  to  centu- 
ries before.  Steam  and  electricity  have,  in 
the  hands  of  the  Almighty,  brought  lands 


l'">6    INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS. 

together  that  were  far  apart.  We  are 
ah^eady  perfectly  familiar  with  weekly 
arrivals  from  Europe.  All  civilized  coun- 
tries are  tra\'ersed  by  the  iron  highways. 
Many  run  to  and  fro.  The  lightning  car- 
ries our  messages  over  land,  and  will  soon 
carry  them  over  sea:  "and  knowledge  is 
increased."  The  terrors  of  the  Southern 
Cape  are  almost  removed,  and  different  con- 
tinents are,  for  all  practical  purposes,  nearer 
together  than  were  Eome  and  Athens.  We 
shall  presently  have  telegraphic  communion 
with  Asia  and  Europe;  and  already  our 
(.'ommerce  drives  its  mighty  shuttle  across 
the  Pacific.  Every  step  in  the  arts  tends  to 
new  communication  between  different  coun- 
tries; and  all  this  affords  facilities  for  the 
spread  of  knowledge.  Thus  are  the  paths 
preparing  for  Christ's  coming  to  reign. 

Among  the  providential  arrangements  for 
intercourse  among  men  and  for  the  increase 
of  knowledge,  it  would  he  wrong  to  omit 
tlje  wonderful  and  increasing  spread  of  the 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS.    1  "7 

language  which  we  speak.  Why  do  we 
wish  the  English  tongue  to  be  widely  dif- 
fused ?  Because  it  is  the  language  of  free- 
dom, of- truth,  of  humanity,  of  science,  and 
of  evangelical  Protestantism ;  the  language 
of  those  among  whom  Christ  has  the  greatest 
number  of  sincere  followers,  and  of  those 
who  have  done  more  than  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  put  together  to  send  abroad  the 
gospel ;  the  language  in  which  the  Bible 
Society,  the  Tract  Society,  the  Missionary 
Society,  have  wrought  their  chief  conquests. 
To  desire  its  great  diffusion  is  therefore  to 
desire  the  advancement  of  almost  every 
good  cause  on  earth.  Yet  how  unlikely 
might  this  have  seemed,  when,  nine- 
teen hundred  years  ago,  Csesar  landed  on 
that  island  of  barbarians  in  the  German 
Ocean  !  What  hath  God  wrought !  English 
is  spoken  all  over  I^orth  America,  in  some 
of  the  West  Indies,  Sandwich  Isles,  South 
Sea  Isles,  I^ew  Zealand,  Australia  and 
Van  Dieman's  Land,  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
.     .  14 


158    INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS. 

[Malta,  Sierra  Leone,  Liberia,  and  large  por- 
tions of  the  East  Indies,  and  is  a  matter  of 
study  in  every  civilized  country  in  the 
world.* 

This  is  our  own  language,  and  hence  we 
are  naturally  interested ;  it  is  also  the  lan- 
guage of  predominant  influence  on  earth, 
and  hence  every  Christian  heart  ought  to 
long  for  it  to  be  sanctified.  But  America 
has  other  causes  to  be  awake  in  resrard  to 
the  spread  of  the  truth.  In  the  provisions 
made  by  God  for  the  progress  of  knowledge 
in  the  earth,  there  is  not  one  more  remark- 
able than  the  discovery,  settlement,  peopling 
and  growth  of  America.  The  very  discovery 
set  the  Old  World  on  fire,  nerved  the  com- 
merce of  nations  and  infused  life  into  the 
veins  of  ancient  empires.  The  Protestant 
pioneers  of  iSTorth  America  were  fostered  by 
Providence  through  many  dangers,  as  if  to 
prepare  them  for  some  great  action.     Then 


*  Soe  Trench  ..  '•  En;;lish,  Past  and  Present." 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY  BOOKS.    159 

came  the  struggle  for  political  rights  which 
realh'  divides  the    political  history  of  the 
world  into  two  parts, — the  Old  and  the  Kew. 
Xext  we  have  to  consider  the  settling  of 
new  lands,  the  acquisition  of  new  territory, 
the  influx  of  foreign  population  and  the  en- 
largement and  strengthening  of  the  whole, — 
until  now  our  commonwealth  stretches  from 
the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf  and  from  ocean  to 
ocean.      The  inhabitants  of  this  wide  do- 
main speak  the  English  language,  and,  for 
the  most  part,  profess  the  Protestant  religion. 
They  have  the   arts  and  commerce,  and   a 
youthful  spirit  of  enterprise.  Their  influence 
is  beginning  to  be  felt    in    the  European 
States.     Shall  any  man  be  found  to  deny 
that  God  has  given  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  a  large  portion  of  that  power 
which  is  to  be  felt  in  spreading  truth  among 
men  ? 

A  glance  may  be  allowed  at  another 
prominent  characteristic  of  the  age.  I  mean 
the   principle    of   combination^    or    associate 


160    IXCREASE    OF    KIsOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS. 

action,  as  applied  to  benevolent  objects.  It 
marks  our  era.  God  lias  wonderfully  kept 
this  power  on  the  side  of  true  religion ;  but 
it  is  gigantic,  and  would  seem  to  be  kept  in 
reserve  for  some  yet  unrevealed  aggression  on 
the  masses  of  ignorance  and  sin.  The  great 
charitable  institutions  of  Great  Britain  and 
America  are  founded  on  this  principle  of 
combination.  It  must  be  acknowledcced 
that  the  friends  of  religious  truth  have  been 
too  slow  in  taking  advantage  of  maxims 
long  admitted  in  secular  things.  The  power 
of  association  had  been  for  ages  acknow- 
ledged in  regard  to  the  conveniences  and 
utilities  of  life  and  the  cruel  art  of  war. 
But  even  in  temporals  there  has  been  a 
migiity  impulse  given  to  these  applications 
in  our  own  day.  ]^ever  before  have  men 
so  largely  and  powerfully  associated  for 
great  objects.  The  history  of  all  the  joint- 
stock  companies  of  Europe  and  America 
may  be  taken  as  exemplifying  this  asser- 
tion.    Xo  sooner  is  any  great  project  pro- 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY    BOOKS.    161 

posed,  than  the  first  practical  step  is  that  of 
combination  and  organization.  By  this 
means,  operations  which  are  herculean, 
gigantic,  and,  indeed,  otherwise  impossible, 
are  conducted  to  successful  issue  with  ease 
and  rapidity.  Turn  ten  thousand  men  loose, 
without  this  bond  of  association,  on  any 
great  work, — such  as  the  construction  of  a 
highway  for  hundreds  of  miles, — and  they 
shall  eiiect  nothing  of  any  account.  Their 
blind  strength  will  result  in  mutual  inter- 
ference and  certain  defeat.  But  let  the 
same  men  come  under  the  law  of  associate 
and  regulated  action,  and  the  consequences 
are  such  as  we  daily  behold  working  revolu- 
tions in  the  whole  economic  frame  of 
society.  It  is  this  principle  which  has  been 
adopted  and  subsidized  by  religion.  It  is 
the  life  and  soul  of  all  our  great  charities. 
And  in  nothing  is  its  influence  more  re- 
markable than  in  the  dissemination  of 
knowledge  by  books.  In  every  age  since 
books  were  numerous  there    have   been  a 

14- 


162    IXCIIEASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    LY   LOOKS. 

lew  benevolent  men  who  have,  in  a  small 
way,  employed  this  method  of  illuminating 
their  fellows.  Thus,  the  little  treatises  of 
Wiclif  and  his  followers  made  their  way 
and  carried  reformation,  not  on\j  in  Eng- 
land, but  in  Germany,  Bohemia  and  Hun- 
gary. And  after  the  invention  of  printing 
this  benevolent  endeavour  was  fruitful  in 
still  higher  degrees.  But  individual  effort, 
however  benevolent,  is  blind,  uncertain  and 
circumscribed.  And  it  was  not  until  the 
mighty  combinations  of  modern  societies 
tliat  religious  publications  began  to  go  forth 
by  thousands,  by  tens  of  thousands,  by 
millions,  and  to  roll  in  a  stream,  broad, 
uniform  and  majestic,  over  whole  countries. 
This  gives  a  dignity  to  the  modern  methods 
of  difiusing  knowledge  which  was  altogether 
wanting  in  every  previous  age. 

There  is,  moreover,  a  special  summons  to 
Protestants  to  engage  in  this  work  by  such 
combination,  from  the  posture  which  they 
hold  against  the  corrupt  Romish  hierarchy. 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY    BOOKS.    163 

The  spread  of  Popery  is  to  be  opposed  by 
the  spread  of  truth.  It  is  our  only  legiti- 
mate weapon.  We  leave  to  them  the  power 
of  au  ignorant  devotion  and  the  power  of 
the  sword.  Protestantism  has  won  all  its 
victories  by  means  of  knowledge.  It  trans- 
lated the  Scriptures  and  sent  them  abroad. 
It  emancipated  the  laity  and  taught  them 
their  rights.  It  seized  on  the  art  of  print- 
ing, and  employed  it  in  language  after  lan- 
guage. But  in  our  contest  with  Popery 
we  labour  under  disadvantages  from  the  ex- 
ternal unity  of  the  Romish  power.  In  her 
polity  she  stands  forth  as  absolutely  one. 
A  single  principle  animates  and  governs  her 
colossal  mass  in  all  parts  of  the  earth.  And 
in  her  arrogance  she  sneers  at  us,  as  divided 
into  many  varying  and  even  contending 
sects.  Now,  though  this  charge  is  unjust, 
and  though  evangelical  Protestants  are 
really  united  in  the  great  essentials  of  Chris- 
tianity, in  which  Papists  are  not  united  at 
all,  it  is  nevertheless   true  that  we  labour 


164    INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS. 

under  a  disadvantage  in  our  contest,  and  in 
our  work  of  aggressive  beneficence,  from 
our  nominal  divisions.  !N"or  is  there  any 
wa}^  in  which  we  can  so  successfully  remove 
this  reproach  and  disability  as  by  combin- 
ing together,  with  a  broad  fraternal  front,  in 
deeds  of  Christian  charity. 

In  surveying  the  path  which  has  thus  far 
been  pursued  by  the  evangelical  churches 
of  England  and  America,  there  is  one 
thought  which  is  too  cheering  to  be  omit- 
ted. It  is  that  the  removal  of  successive  ob- 
stacles to  the  spread  of  knowledge  gives  us  earnest 
of  the  eventual  removal  of  whatsoever  is  in  the 
way.  Some  of  these  obstacles  have  had  our 
attention :  there  are  others  which  demand  a 
word  or  two  of  explanation. 

A  great  and  comprehensive  cause  of  our 
difficulty  has  been  the  separation  of  the 
human  race  in  difierent  continents,  nations, 
governments  and  languages, — an  evil  result- 
ing partly  from  the  configuration  of  the 
earth  and  partly  from  tlie  confusion  of  Ba- 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    ];Y    BOOKS.    K)") 

oel.  !N'ow,  there  is  no  more  marked  cha- 
racteristic of  modern  times  than  the  dispo- 
sition of  different  parts  of  the  earth  to  come 
nearer  together  and  to  intermingle.  Com- 
merce is  joining  countries  which  were  the 
most  remote.  Oceans,  which  were  the  great 
separators,  are  now  the  great  uniters ;  and 
science  and  art  have  made  us  nearer  to 
Europe  than  some  countries  are  which  have 
no  seas  between.  Kingdoms  which  were 
once  closed  and  doubly  barred  against  our 
ingress  are  now  wide  open.  The  tendency 
to  emigration  has  become  all  but  a  passion 
or  a  fury,  and  whole  territories  of  the  Old 
World  are  seen  emptying  their  human  con- 
tents on  America,  Australia  and  Xew  Zea- 
land. Though  we  cannot  evangelize  the 
wild  inhabitants  of  Ireland,  God  is  bring- 
ing them  over  to  our  gospel  land  b}^  hun- 
dreds of  thousands.  It  would  be  vain  for 
us  to  send  missionaries  to  Germany;  but 
God  is  sending  the  Germans  to  us.  White 
men  are  deterred  from  carrying  the  gospel 


166    INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS. 

to  Africa;  but  a  perpetuallj-augmented 
(iirrent  of  emancipated  and  Christianized 
slaves  is  setting  towards  the  Liberian  coast, 
once  horrid  with  the  barracoons  of  the 
slaver.  China  is  no  lons^er  sealed  ascainst 
the  printed  Scriptures,  and  thirty  thousand 
Chinese  are  within  the  limits  of  our  repub- 
lic. Thus  it  is  that  many  run  to  and  fro, 
and  one  grand  obstacle  is  lessened,  if  not 
wholly  removed. 

The  difficulty  caused  by  the  different  lan- 
guages of  men  is  vast,  and  has  stood  in  the 
way  of  successful  Christian  effort.  But 
there  are  various  ways  in  which  this 
great  mountain  may  become  a  plain ;  and 
some  of  these  already  make  themselves  visi- 
ble. The  study  of  language  was  never  so 
extensively  pursued  as  at  the  present  time. 
It  may  be  called  the  ruling  passion  of  the 
learned  in  our  day.  Christianity  has  availed 
itself  of  this,  and  is  rapidly  putting  the, 
Scriptures  and  other  vehicles  of  saving 
knowledge  into  all  the  tongues  spoken  by 


INCREASE    OF    KXOWLEDGE    BY    BOOKS.    167 

men.     In  tins  view  we  must  comprehend 
also  the  fact — already  mentioned  in  another 
connection  —  that   the    language  which  we 
speak,  and  which  contains  more  gospel  ti'ea- 
sures  than  all  others,  is  precisely  the  one 
which  is  passing  with  unexampled  expan- 
sion over  all  the  fields  of  emigration  and 
colonization.     The  intent  of  Providence  in 
this  cannot  well  be  mistaken.     While  we 
may   and    must    employ   translations   into 
other  tongues,  we  may,  in  our  own  mother- 
tono-ue,  send  the  books   and   tracts  which 
tell  of  Christ  to  a  large  part  of  the  human 
race.     There  are  other  evils,  especially  op- 
pression and  war,  which  we  believe,  on  the 
pledge  of  the  prophetic  word,  that  the  King 
of  kings  and  Lord  of  hosts  will  remove  out 
of  the  way  in  his  own  time.    If  we  sweep  the 
whole  horizon  with  our  glass,  we  behold  on 
every  side  the  proofs  that  God  is  so  ordering 
his  jprovideyitial  dispensations  as  to  give  gradual 
increase  to  the  provisions  for  spreading  know- 
ledge.    The  practical  deduction,  in  regard  to 


1(38    INCREASE    OF   KNOWLEDGE    BY  BOOKS. 

our  own  duty,  is  that  we  are  bouud  to  em- 
ploy these  increased  facilities  to  the  utmost. 
Divine  truth  is  amono^  us  as  a  blessed  foun- 
tain ;  but  what  we  wish  to  accomplish  is  to 
give  it  an  immense  diffusion,  to  send  its 
diver2:ino;  and  fertilizinsr  streams  down 
every  side  of  the  mountain  of  humanity. 
Prophecy  conveys  the  idea  of  a  wide-jour- 
neying of  the  truth  in  every  direction  : — 
"  Many  shall  run  to  and  fro,  and  knowledge 
shall  be  increased;"  as  if  the  increase  of 
knowleds^e  were  not  merelv  an  incidental 
consequence  of  this  running  to  and  fro,  but 
the  very  effect  intended  ;  as  if  the  very  pro- 
gress meant  were  that  of  benevolent  men 
carrying  the  torch  of  truth  into  the  dark 
places  of  the  earth.  As  if  the  holy  Avriter 
had  said,  "  The  day  is  coming,  in  the  revo- 
lution of  the  ages,  when  good  men  shall 
not  be  content  to  stay  at  home  and  revel  in 
the  truth  which  abounds  at  their  own  fire- 
sides, but  when  they  shall  carry  it  abroad 
and  run  with  zealous  love  to  convey  divine 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE   BY    BOOKS.    169 

knowledge  to  the  ignorant."     In  part,  that 
time   may  be  said   already  to  have  come. 
Our  piety  may  not  be  more  pure  —  I  am 
sure  it  is  not  more  deep  —  than  that  of  a 
former  period ;  but  it  is  certainly  more  dif- 
fusive.    It  seeks  to  fly  from  the  centre  to 
the  extremities.      And  why  this,  unless  in 
accordance  with  a  law  of  God's  providential 
plan,  that,  as  the  latter  days  draw  near,  his 
people  shall  be  unwilling  each  to  eat  his 
morsel  alone,  and  shall  be  eager  to  multiply 
the  means  of  converting  sinners  to  God? 
The   fathers  who  honoured  Christianity  a 
few  centuries   ago  were   possessed  of  the 
same  truth  which  we   possess.     They  had 
the  same  Bible.    Good  books  stood  on  their 
shelves,  sometimes  in  tall  folio  copies,  on 
large  paper,  and  very  costly.     They  read, 
they  prized,  they  enjoyed  them;  but  they 
had   not    learned    the   luxury   there   is   in 
abridging,    cheapening    and     popularizing 
them.     Owen,  Baxter,  Howe,  Bates,  Flavel 
and    Boston    were   possessed   by   compara- 

15 


170    INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS. 

tively  few.  It  was  reserved  for  our  times 
to  take  the  writings  of  these  verj-  men  and 
make  them  accessible  to  the  mountaineer  in 
his  log-cabin,  the  emigrant  in  his  attic,  the 
sailor  in  his  forecastle,  and  even  the  pri- 
soner in  his  cell.  This  has  been  the  work 
of  associations.  Let  us  aid  in  this  enter- 
prise of  beneficent  diflusion.  Let  us  feel 
that  (;onfidence  in  divine  truth  which  shall 
make  us  hopeful  when  we  communicate  it, 
even  in  the  smallest  portions. 

My  purpose  in  this  chapter  is  to  enlist 
my  readers  in  the  holy  work  of  increasing 
knowledge  in  the  earth, — not  a  science 
which  maintains  a  merely  temporal  welfare, 
but  the  truth  that  maketh  wise  unto  salva- 
tion. Can  I  offer  a  more  awakening  motive 
than  this, — that,  by  giving  circulation  to  good 
books  and  tracts,  after  having  trained  a  ge- 
neration to  read  them,  you  may  rescue  many 
souls  from  everlasting  destruction?  From 
various  causes,  perhaps,  you  have  known 
little   of   this  blessedness.      Peradventure, 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS.    171 

my  Christian  reader,  you  have  never  yet 
been  the  instrument  of  saving  a  soul  from 
death  and  covering  a  multitude  nf  sins. 
For  reasons  best  known  to  yourself,  you 
have  never  pursued  the  sinner  into  his 
hiding-place,  nor  alarmed  him  with  denun- 
ciation of  his  sins,  nor  entreated  him  tu 
believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  nor  prayed  and 
wept  and  rejoiced  with  liim.  In  person 
you  have  been  unable,  or  thought  yourself 
unable,  to  go  into  the  highways  and  hedges, 
or  the  lanes  and  alleys,  and  carry  the  truth 
of  the  gospel  to  the  vicious  and  forsaken. 
You  have  lived  thus  long  without  any  ac- 
quaintance with  a  work  which  wins  so 
many  trophies  to  Christ.  Xow,  in  all  this 
you  may  find  an  argument  why  you  should 
aid  the  cause  w^hich  I  am  now  pleading. 
That  which  you  cannot  do  in  person  you 
may  do  by  the  hands  of  others.  You  may 
enter  the  chambers  of  illness  and  the  dens 
of  infamy.  You  may  preach  the  gospel. 
You  may  be,  to  many  a  learner,  the  Baxter, 


112    INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS. 

the  Hodge,  the  Boardmanj  of  his  dwelling. 
You  may  multiply  yourself  a  thousand- 
fold, and  continue  to  labour  long  after  you 
are  dead.  These  paradoxes  will  be  fulfilled 
in  you  by  a  simple  embracing  of  the  means 
offered  by  the  American  Sunday-School 
Union. 

If  the  entire  subject  of  books  and  read- 
ing were  before  us,  there  are  some  qualifi- 
cations and  cautions  which  it  would  be  pro- 
per to  throw  in  just  at  this  place.  Exten- 
sive as  have  been  the  good  results  of  in- 
creased publication,  all  the  results  have  not 
been  good.  Evil  may  be  written  and  printed 
as  well  as  good.  AVhile  the  church  sows 
wheat,  Satan  sows  tares.  The  knowledge 
which  is  the  pride  of  the  age  and  of  Ame- 
rica may  be  shallow  in  the  very  ratio  of 
its  diffusion.  Hundreds  of  thousands,  by 
means  of  public  education,  attain  a  certain 
point  of  culture :  it  remains  to  be  seen  how 
far  this  wide-spread  but  necessarily  imper- 
fect illumination  will  prove  safe  or  benefi- 


INCREASE    OF    KNOWLEDGE    BY   BOOKS.    173 

cial  in  the  absence  of  distinct  evangelical 
knowledge    and    habits   of    Christian   mo- 
rality.    Another  generation,  at  least,  must 
live  and  die  before  we   can  calculate  the 
evils  wrought  by  bad  literature.     On  this 
head  I  have  somewhat  to  urge  in  the  next 
chapter;  and,  therefore,  it  is  enough  to  say 
that  every  suspicion  of  danger  from  idle  or 
corrupt  writings  should  impel  us  to  those 
very  labours  of  prevention  which   are  at- 
tempted by  Sunday-schools  and  other  Chris- 
tian seminaries  -.—namely,  to  seek  out  and 
gather  and   teach  the  children  as  already 
proposed,  to  produce  and  cultivate  a  taste 
for  sound  reading,  to  furnish  copies  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  and  of  good  human  com- 
positions which  inculcate  saving  truth,  and 
to  shower  these  over  the  land,  to  be  as  rain 
on  the  thirsty  earth.   By  schools  and  books, 
under  God's  favour,  we  hope  to  counter- 
work the  adversary. 


15* 


CHAPTER  YI. 

THE   MULTITUDE   OF   BOOKS,   AND   THE   RESULTING 
DANGERS   AND   DUTIES. 

The  dying  poet  Collins  is  reported  to 
have  said,  ''I  have  but  one  book;  but  that 
is  the  best."  And  Sir  Walter  Scott,  him- 
self so  prolific  a  contributor  to  the  fund 
of  modern  literature,  gave  a  similar  testi- 
mony in  his  last  hours.  How  the  great 
and  cultivated  but  often  misguided  mind 
of  Sir  Walter  Scott  returned  to  the  Scrip- 
tures in  his  dying  hours  is  known  to  many 
of  our  readers.  "He  expressed  a  wish," 
Bays  his  son-in-law,  Lockhart,  "  that  I  should 
read  to  him ;  and  when  I  asked  from  what 
book,  he  said,  'Xeed  you  ask?  There  is 
BUT  ONE.'     I  chose  the  fourteenth  chapter 

of  St.  John's  Gospel ;  he  listened  wath  mild 
174 


DANGERS   AND    DUTIES.  1T5 

devotion,  and  said,  when  I  had  done,  'Well, 
this  is  a  great  comfort.     I  have  followed 
you  distinctly,  and  I  feel  as  if  I  were   to 
be  myself  again.'     But  this  hope  was  not 
realized.     During  his  days  of  decline  he 
was    sometimes    heard    murmuring     over 
snatches   from    Isaiah    and    the   hook    of 
Job,  and  occasionally  a  Psalm,  in  the  old 
Scottish  version." 

We  shall  best  estimate  the  value  of  the 
one  Book  when  we  have  looked  at  the 
many,  and  when  we  have  seen  how  hard 
it  is  to  live  amidst  such  a  wilderness  of 
Bweets,  often  poisonous  as  luscious,  with- 
out serious  harm. 

Some  foregoing  remarks  have  sufficiently 
revealed  the  principle  of  the  Sunday-school 
institution  in  respect  to  these  vehicles  of 
thought.  The  Bible,  as  the  one  Sunday- 
book,  is  the  great  Sunday-school  book.  But 
we  practise  no  such  fanatical  proscription 
as  that  which  is  ascribed  to  the  caliph 
Omar  at   the  burning  of  the  Alexandrian 


176  MULTITUDE    OF   BOOKS: 

Library.  There  are  thousands  of  uninspired 
volumes  which  desen^e  to  be  read.  Every 
generation  of  writers  adds  something  to 
replace  such  as  become  obsolete.  Among 
these,  religion  has  its  duties  and  its  rights ; 
and  Christian  education,  for  reasons  already 
alleged,  prepares  and  utters  its  lessons  in 
this  kind.  As  Christian  teachers  and  scho- 
lars, the  question  which  concerns  us  just 
here  is  this: — What  view  shall  the  pa- 
triot AND  THE  philanthropist  TAKE  OF 
THE    MULTIPLICATION    OF    BOOKS    IN    OUR  DAY  ? 

Before  we  reply,  a  passage  from  Solomon 
occurs  to  every  mind: — "Of  making  many 
books  there  is  no  end."*  In  the  times  of 
this  Hebrew  king,  wisdom,  learning  and 
experience  were  conveyed,  as  we  saw  be- 
fore, by  word  of  mouth,  rather  than  by  pen 
and  ink.  Scholars  travelled  over  all  lands 
to  hear  the  words  of  their  masters,  instead 
of  having  these   words  brought   from   all 


*  Eccles.  xii.  12. 


DANGERS    AND    DUTIES.  ITT 

lands   on    paper   to   them.     The    construc- 
tion of  books  was  a  very  hiborious  busi- 
ness, when  copy  after  copy  was  produced 
by  a  toil  as  slavish  and  as  slow  as  the  en- 
grossing of  our  modern  chanceries.     Yet, 
such  is  the  charm  of  composition  for  the 
author  himself,  and  such  is  the  advantage 
of  the  written  treatise  to  society,  that  even 
then,  two   thousand   eight  hundred  years 
ao-o,  in  secluded  Palestine,  books  had  be- 
gun  to  be  inconveniently  numerous.     The 
penitent  philosopher— or,  as  he  chooses  to 
call  himself,  Ecclesiastes,  the  preacher- 
introduces   the   sentence   among   the   con- 
cluding lessons  and  settled  results  of  his 
whole  life,  and  speaks  both  of  writing  and 
of  reading  books.     Having  himself  been  a 
laborious   collector,— having    "sought   out 
and  set  in   order   many  proverbs,"  which 
were    "upright,  even  words  of  truth,"  tu 
stimulate    dull    minds   by   their    antithetic 
sententiousness,  "as  goads,"  and  abide  in 
memory    by   sharp   apothegmatic  wit   and 


178  MULTITUDE    OF   BOOKS: 

wisdom,  "as  nails," — he,  nevertheless,  grew 
faint  from  the  toil, — for  none  is  more  wast- 
ing than  that  of  the  student, — and,  as  he 
laid  aside  the  reed  and  parchment,  was 
glad  to  look  higher  than  all  instrumen- 
tality. The  ultimate  discovery  of  his  life- 
long researches  is  in  the  last  verses  of  that 
book.*  On  surveying  the  almost  unlimited 
augmentation  of  printed  books  in  our  days, 
w^e  are  forcibly  induced  to  such  reflections 
as  these : — 

I.  Every  man  reads  something.  It  may 
be  asserted,  as  an  undeniable  truth,  of  all 
such  as  peruse  these  remarks  or  are  likely 
to  heed  them.  There  have  been  states  of 
society  in  which  books,  like  gems,  were 
found  in  any  number  only  among  the 
wealthy;  but  now  the  humble  artisan 
often  has  a  better  library  than  was  owned 
by  Charlemagne.  Reading  is  scarcely  to 
be   numbered    among    the    luxuries — it  is 

«  Ecclcs.  xii.  !3,  1  I. 


DANGERS    AND    DUTIES.  179 

rather  one  of  the  necessities — of  life ;  so 
that  we  are  tempted  to  smile  when  Ave 
alio^ht  on  one  of  those  sober  old-time  homi- 
lies  in  which  3'oung  people  are  informed 
of  the  "advantages  of  reading."  For  who, 
in  our  time  and  countrj-,  lives  without 
books  ?  Certainly  not  the  porter  at  the 
gate  or  the  coachman  upon  his  box.  Lite- 
rature in  some  shape  and  measure  belongs 
to  the  inheritance  of  all  Americans ;  and 
the  increasing  extent  and  efficiency  of  our 
gigantic  school-system  render  the  craving 
for  this  indulgence  more  and  more  in- 
satiable. Young  persons  who  establish 
themselves  in  a  dw^elling  demand  a  show 
of  volumes  as  much  as  an  array  of  kitchen- 
utensils.  To  find  great  numbers  of  adults 
who  cannot  read,  we  must  look  to  the  tribes 
who  come  to  us  from  the  forming  hand  of 
Popery,  in  which  ignorance  is  the  mother 
of  devotion.  It  may  be  stated  as  the  gene- 
ral fact, — we  are  aware  of  the  exceptions, — 
that    amona;   American    Protestants    there 


180  MULTITUDE    OF    BOOKS: 

are  no  families,  above  the  level  of  deplo- 
rable want,  in  wliicli  reading  of  some  kind 
does  not  enter  into  the  occupations  of  every 
day.  'We  are,  beyond  any  nation  that  is 
or  ever  was  on  earth,  a  reading  people.  A 
peculiarity  so  marked  as  this  cannot  but 
act  upon  public  character,  for  good  or  evil, 
in  very  striking  degrees ;  and  no  one,  pre- 
viously to  the  experiment,  can  certainly 
declare  what  the  result  will  be.  In  this 
as  in  many  other  respects,  we  of  this  new 
era  and  especially  of  this  new  world,  are 
pressing  our  army  into  a  field  of  discovery 
and  experience  where  none  have  gone  be- 
fore us,  and  where  the  reconnoissance  must 
be  all  our  own.  Thus  it  remains  to  be  seen 
what  sort  of  a  generation  that  will  turn  out 
which  will  have  been  trained  up  from  the 
mothers'  arms  in  daily  converse  with  let- 
ters. As  matters-  now  are,  every  man, 
woman  and  child  among  us  has  somewhat 
that  he  reads. 

ir.  Xow,  it  is  equally  plain  that  no  man 


DANGERS   AND    DUTIES.  181 

CAN  READ  EVERY  THING.  This  Were  beyoiid 
the  omnivorous  powers  even  of  the  veriest 
helluo  Ubrorum,  or  book-glutton.  Those  who 
browze  at  will  in  great  libraries  and  turn 
over  the  volumes  of  the  wareroom,  how- 
ever rapidly,  superficially  and  constantly 
they  read,  cannot  peruse  all  the  productions 
of  the  press.  Omitting  all  mention  of  other 
countries,  especially  Germany,  France  and 
England,  the  tide  of  publications  from  our 
own  press  is  such  as  to  awaken  astonish- 
ment. According  to  the  best  information 
I  can  procure,  the  number  of  works  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States  during  the  year 
1854  cannot  be  less  than  one  thousand.  I 
need  not  say  how  great  is  the  multiplication 
of  copies. 

Who  is  he  that  can  keep  reckoning  of- 
such  fecundity  ?     The  day  was  when  every 
work  above  a  primer  or  an   almanac  w^as 
imported  from  Europe.     Even  within  our 
recollection,  the  trade  was  so  circumscribed 

16 


182  MULTITUDE    OF    BOOKS: 

that  no  great  study  would  have  been  re- 
quired to  go  round  the  complete  ch'cle  of 
IsTorth  American  impressions.  At  present 
the  very  catalogue  of  works  is  burdensome ; 
and  he  who  visits  the  houses  of  our  princely 
booksellers,  or  attends  the  trade-sales,  finds 
himself  bewildered,  needs  a  guide  in  the 
labyrinth,  and  is  disheartened  at  the  im- 
mensity of  literary  material.  To  this  is  to 
be  added  the  periodical  publications  of  the 
time,  which  mark  out  our  age  as  distinctly 
and  as  mightily  as  cotton,  steam,  or  electro- 
magnetism.  Such  is  the  superfetation,  that, 
as  has  been  said,  the  very  paper  has  fallen 
short,  and  the  lamenting  cry  is  for  some 
new  fabric,  since  the  rags  of  the  earth  no 
longer  suffice  to  make  its  books.  If  in  the 
days  of  Solomon — from  which  no  books  but 
the  Scriptures  have  come  down  to  us,  and 
in  which  ervery  uncial  letter  was  separately 
and  laboriously  traced  by  manual  labour 
upon  the  parchment — books  were  yet  so 
numerous  as  to  occasion  Solomon's  words, 


DANGERS   AND   DUTIES.  18-3 

what  shall  we  say  of  days  like  these,  when 
the  power-press  can  throw  off  fifteen  or 
twenty  thousand  sheets  in  an  hour,  and 
when  ten  thousand  fresh  volumes  emerge 
into  publicity  in  a  single  morning  ?  It  needs 
scarcely  be  repeated  that  no  man  can  read 
every  thing. 

m.  And    therefore    wise    selection    is 

NEEDFUL     IN     REGARD     TO    THE    BOOKS    WHICH 

SHALL  BE  READ.  Selection  of  some  sort 
every  man  employs  who  does  not  read  by 
dictation  or  purchase  his  library  by  the 
cubic  foot.  Yet  in  many  instances  it  is 
very  much  such  selection  as  when  one 
shakes  a  laden  tree  and  picks  up  what  hap- 
pens to  fall,  be  it  ripe  or  rotten.  There  is 
no  rejection;  there  is  neither  scrutiny  nor 
discrimination ;  for  these  presuppose  both 
knowled2:e  and  wisdom.  There  are  few 
things  in  which  men  are  more  apt  to  feel 
secure  in  their  own  competency  than  judg- 
ment of  books ;  there  is  nothing  in  which 
they    are    more    egregiously    gulled     and 


184  MULTITUDE   OF   BOOKS: 

duped.  Sometimes  they  are  carried  away 
with  the  butterjfly-lnies  of  a  brilliant  ephe- 
meral nothing;  and  sometimes,  like  the 
fabled  fowl,  they  leave  untouched  the 
diamond  upon  its  heap  of  rubbish.  Where 
thousands  are  competing  for  notice,  it  is 
necessary  to  use  discernment.  The  number 
must  be  sternly  reduced  by  repeated  sift- 
ings  before  there  can  be  any  practical 
study.  And  to  do  this  requires  some  ante- 
cedent information.  The  more  books  mul- 
tiply around  us,  the  more  imperative  does 
it  become  that  we  should  use  reserve.  The 
Arab  in  his  desert,  who  seldom  sees  a 
stranger,  is  safe  in  welcoming  every  passer- 
by to  the  shadow  and  refreshment  of  his 
tent ;  but,  where  one  dwells  among  popula- 
tions like  London  or  Xew  York,  he  learns 
to  choose  and  to  refuse.  So,  in  days  when 
the  question  was,  ''Who  reads  an  American 
book?"  our  fathers  read  every  thing  that 
came  damp  from  the  press ;  but  now  their 
name  is  legion.     Necessity  is  therefore  laid 


DANGERS   AND   DUTIES.  185 

upon  US  to  exercise  a  salutary  caution  as  to 
what  books  shall  be  perused. 

TV.  Yet  THE  DIFFICULTY  OF  DISCREET  SE- 
LECTION IS  GREAT  beyond  all  that  at  first 
appears. 

1.  The  vast  number  already  noted  is 
the  measure  of  this  difficulty,  though  not 
its  sole  cause,  as  we  shall  see.  There  is  the 
entire  world  of  past  authorship  coming  up 
before  us,  along  with  that  which  is  con- 
temporary. The  rusty,  mouldering  and 
worm-eaten  tomes  of  the  library  come  into 
rivalry  with  the  bright,  uncut  pages  of  the 
publication-morning.  One  must  settle  the 
outstanding  quarrel  between  the  ancients 
and  the  moderns.  Each  host  appears  by 
myriads.  Choice  is  ready  to  be  confounded 
where  "  of  making  many  books  there  is  no 
end." 

2.  To  the  number  from  which  to  select 
must  be  added  the  ignorance  of  those  who 
make  the  selection.  Laying  aside  persons 
of  high  education,  the  mass  of  mankind, 


186  MUDTITUDE    OF   BOOKS: 

particularly  in  youth,  are  unprepared  to  sit 
in  judgment  upon  the  multifarious  produc- 
tions of  a  fertile  period.  Here,  if  any  where, 
wise  counsel  of  those  who  may  be  denomi- 
nated experts  is  invaluable.  The  person 
who  would  not  trust  his  own  unaided  judg- 
ment  in  regard  to  the  purchase  of  a  farm, 
or  even  a  yoke  of  oxen,  is  often  quite  cool 
in  determining  the  studies  of  a  whole  life ; 
though  this  latter  point  is  much  more 
remote  from  his  ordinary  pursuits.  The 
criticisms  of  books  which  appear  in  public 
journals  are  seldom  to  be  taken  mthout 
caution ;  being  sometimes  malicious,  some- 
times venal,  and  very  often  ignorant  and 
hasty.  Some  advance  is  indeed  made  to- 
wards determinations  of  this  kind  in  the 
case  of  those  who  have  received  a  good 
general  education ;  for  in  this  must  always 
be  included  some  sui-vey  of  leading  works 
on  great  subjects,  and  some  rules  which 
may  be  applied  to  future  selection.  But  it 
must    be    confessed    that    the   majority  of 


DANGERS   AND    DUTIES.  187 

readers  are  very  little  able  to  cater  advan- 
tageously for  their  own  daily  supplies. 

3.  Due  selection  is  hindered  also  by  the 
fact  that  so  many  persons  make  mere  en- 
tertainment THE  CRITERION  OF  THEIR 
CHOICE.  In  times  when  a  great  book  was  a 
matter  to  be  recovered  at  law,  or  to  be  willed 
away  in  testaments,  or  bequeathed  for  the 
soul's  good  to  prelate,  college,  or  cloister, 
the  study  of  the  same  was  a  serious  func- 
tion of  life,  for  which  men  prepared  with 
deliberation.  But  now,  when  every  day 
brings  its  new  temptations,  with  every  in- 
genious trick  of  tinsel  and  flavour  and 
every  provocative  to  passion  or  laughter, 
who  can  expect  a  youth  of  gayety  and  clever- 
ness to  select  that  only  which  shall  be  pro- 
fitable ?  As  well  might  we  expect  our 
babes  to  lay  in  a  stock  of  useful  medicines. 
With  most  readers  who  have  passed  their 
school-days,  reading  is  a  matter  of  sheer 
amusement,  as  much  as  chess,  driving  out, 
or  promenading ;  though,  like  each  of  these, 


188  MULTITUDE   OF    BOOKS: 

it  may  become  a  thing  of  pride,  emulation 
and  display.  But,  amidst  the  m altitude  of 
books,  few  are  they  who  choose  their  lite- 
rary material  with  an  eye  to  solid  improve- 
ment; and  hence  the  process  of  selection 
is  very  unfairly  disturbed. 

4.  Moreover,  all  impartial  and  sober  dis- 
crimination among  "books  without  end" 
is  precluded  by  the  bias  of  popular  vogue 
and  transient  fashion,  which  work  as  power- 
fully here  as  in  furniture  or  dress.  Look 
back,  in  old  collections  and  catalogues,  and 
see  hundreds  of  works  once  famous  and 
sought  and  read  with  a  sort  of  frenzy, — as 
the  Calprenede,  the  Grand  Cyrus,  the  Ar- 
cadia, the  poems  of  Charles  11. 's  court, — 
now  entirely  contemned  among  the  dust  and 
cobwebs  of  garrets.  Let  us  not  persuade 
ourselves  that  our  own  day  is  exempt  from 
such  follies.  The  lists  and  counters  of  the 
trade  will  to-morrow  morning  show  scores 
of  such  perishable  things,  and  the  undis- 
ciplined  and  unadvised  will  go  on  to  fill 


DANGERS   AND    DUTIES.  189 

aud  cloy  tliemselves  with  luscious  but  con- 
temptible stuff,  of  which,  they  shall  by-and- 
by  be  heartily  sick.  In  poetry,  in  romance, 
in  philosophy — alas  !  in  religion — there  is 
a  temporary  eclat  which  has  this  lamentable 
ingredient  in  its  folly,  that  it  injures  the 
mind  and  shuts  out  what  might  give  it 
strength. 

For  these  and  the  like  reasons,  it  is  not 
easy  to  carry  fully  out  our  plans  of  selec- 
tion. And  this  should  lead  every  one  who 
is  solicitous  for  his  own  mental  and  moral 
culture,  and  that  of  his  dependants,  to  seek 
the  best  counsel  in  regard  to  this  moment- 
ous affair  of  reading  and  study.  For  we 
may  reconstruct  the  maxim  concerning 
companions,  and  say,  with  equal  truth, 
"Tell  me  your  hooks,  and  I  will  tell  you 
what  you  are."  The  question,  then,  to 
which  all  the  preceding  considerations 
should  urge  us  is,  ^Vliat  shall  I  read?  In 
other  words,  What  principle  shall  govern 
my  selection  of  books?     And,  in  what  re- 


190  MULTITUDE   OF    BOOKS: 

mains,  we  may  profitably  occupy  our  time 
in  considering  what  to  refuse  and  what  to 
choose. 

V.  Here   there  can  be   no  hesitation  in 
lapng  down  the     rule,   Books  should  be 

REJECTED  WHICH  ARE  BAD  OR  USELESS  OR 
EVEN  BELOW  MEDIOCRITY. 

1.  Bad  books  are  abundant.  They  "go 
up  and  come  into  thine  house,  and  into  thy 
bedchamber,  and  upon  thy  bed,  and  into 
the  house  of  thy  servants,  and  upon  thy 
people,  and  into  thine  ovens,  and  into  thy 
kneading-troughs."  Of  making  bad  books 
there  is  in  our  time  no  end;  never  was 
there  such  a  propagandism  of  evil  reading. 
Omitting  those  which  invite  the  criticism 
of  the  police,  we  have  books  of  error,  of  he- 
resy, of  scepticism,  of  infidelity,  of  scoffing, 
of  blasphemy  and  of  atheism.  The  old 
English  and  French  deists  are  reproduced 
with  new  forces  of  vastly  greater  dano-er 
and  seduction  from  Young  England  and 
Young  Germany.     Those  are  not  the  most 


DANGERS   AND    DUTIES.  193 

fatal   whicli   are   the   grossest.      For   Tom 
Paine,  we  must  grope  into  the  filthiest  dens 
of  transatlantic  radicals,  newly  arrived  and 
bringing  dirty  and  cheap  copies  from  Holy- 
well Street,  from  English  factories  and  from 
bridewells.   If  you  wish  to  poison  an  enemy 
you  will  not  first  suffocate  him  with  stench 
like  this;  wily  mahce  will   ply  him  with 
"  poppy  and  mandragora  and  all  the  drowsy 
syrups  of  the  world."     And  such  are  the 
infidel  books  which  come  to  us  in  the  guise 
of  popular  fiction  or  poetry.     For  example, 
the  ignorant  creatures  who  innocently  try 
to  comprehend  the  involved  and  intricate 
strophes  of  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley  scarcely 
know,  even  while  the  volume  is   in  their 
hands  and  they  are  lulled  with  his  soft  mu- 
sic, that   as   an   atheist  he   is  worse   than 
Paine ;  that  in  that  very  volume  he  scouts 
the  idea  of  a  God,  raves  agaiiust  the  institu- 
tion of  marriage,  laughs  to  scorn  chastity  as 
a  virtue,  blasphemes   the   miraculous   con- 


192  MULTITUDE    OF    BOOKS: 

ception  of  our  Lord  in  language  which  we 
dare  not  quote,  and  traces  the  miseiy  of  man- 
kind to  Avhat  he  calls  "the  accursed  book  of 
God."  I  charitably  believe  that  those  young 
misses  whose  saloons  are  graced  by  costly 
copies  of  Shelley  and  Don  Juan  have  con- 
tented themselves  (no  unusual  practice)  with 
the  cover  and  gilding  of  the  volume. 

Bad  books  are  unfortunately  of  wider 
range  than  these,  which  inculcate  infidelity 
or  paint  voluptuous  sin.  The  cheap,  frail 
pamphlet-editions  of  idle  romance,  notable 
more  for  its  dead-level  mediocrity, — a  litera- 
ture pecuhar  to  our  day,  in  which  great 
and  famous  but  unprincipled  publishers  and 
booksellers  purvey  to  the  least  intellectual 
and  most  illiterate  portion  of  the  reading 
world, — are  recognised  by  their  very  integu- 
ment, and  the  yellow  or  tawny  cover  is  seen 
lurking  under  pillows,  on  work-tables,  or 
wherever  consciousness  of  ill-spent  hours 
leads  to  concealment.  The  world  is  so  full 
of  injurious   and    corrupting  works  that  a 


DANGER?   AND   DUTIES...  193 

decision  should  early  be  formed   to  shun 
them  all  as  3'ou  would  shun  a  scorpion. 

2.  Useless  books   are   innumerable.     It  is 
not  enoudi  to  shun  those  which  are  shame- 
ful  and  flagitious.     Our  life  in  this  world  is 
but  a  brief  period,  abridged  at  either  end ; 
when     longest,    greatly    interrupted,     and 
often  abruptly  cut  off.     Why,  among  tens 
of  thousands,  should   a  man   select  those 
which  can  do  him  no  good?     This  does  not 
breathe  a  syllable  against  seasonable  enter- 
tainment, recreation,  nay,  even  amusement. 
That   book  is  not   useless  which   smooths 
the  knitted  brow  and  tempts  back  the  smile 
of  natural  health  to  the  saturnine  visage: 
and,  when  wise  reserve  and  careful  limita- 
tion are  observed,  such  books  do  good.   But 
the  adult  who  reads  always  for  amusement 
makes  himself  a  child,  and  might  as  well 
return  to  kites  and  marbles. 

Those   who   would  malignantly  degrade 
the  women  of  America  into  prett}'  toys,  to 

be  caressed  while  the  early  varnish  is   on 

17 


194  MULTITUDE    OF    BOOKS: 

tliem  and  the  costly  music  not  silenced  by 
wedlock,  and  then  contemned  when  they 
are  found  to  have  no  solid  qualities,  can- 
not eflect  their  purpose  more  certainly  than 
by  reducing  the  daily  reading  of  the  sex 
to  volumes,  or  rather  pamphlets,  of  vapid 
story-telling  and  banter.  And  all  readere, 
male  and  female,  old  and  young,  should  be 
aware  that  their  character  and  destiny  may 
be  inferred  from  these  silent  companions ; 
and  that  books  which  bring  no  profit  are 
leaving  a  mark  upon  the  ductile  w^ax  of 
mind,  sentiment  and  habit,  for  life,  and 
perhaps  for  eternity. 

3.  Inferior  books  are  to  be  rejected,  in  an 
age  and  time  when  we  are  courted  by  w^hole 
libraries,  and  when  no  man's  life  is  long 
enough  to  compass  even  those  wdiich  are 
good  and  great  and  famous.  Why  should 
we  bow  down  at  puddles  wheirwe  can  ap- 
proach freely  to  the  crystal  springheads  of 
science  and  letters  ?  Half  the  reading  of 
most    people   is    snatched    up   at   random. 


DANGERS    AND    DUTIES.  195 

Many  stupefy  themselves  over  the  dulness 
of  authors  who  ought  never  to  have  escaped 
oblivion.  The  invention  of  paper  and  print- 
ing— especially  the  production  of  both  by  a 
new  motive-power  —  may  be  said  to  have 
overdone  the  matter  and  made  it  too  easy 
to  be  born  into  the  world  of  authorship. 
The  race  would  be  benefited  by  some  new 
invention  for  strangling  nine  out  of  ten 
that  sue  for  publicity.  If  steam  and  mag- 
netism could  lengthen  life  to  an  antedilu- 
vian term,  or  urge  the  mind  into  new  ener- 
gies, so  that  it  should  effect  in  one  hour 
what  our  fathers  efi^ected  in  ten,  we  might 
afford  to  nod  over  indifferent,  second-rate, 
seventh-rate  productions.  But  time  is  no 
longer  and  mind  is  no  mightier;  yet  men 
who,  in  a  shop,  orchard,  or  market,  pique 
themselves  on  choosing  the  best,  are  con- 
tent in  the  matter  of  reading  to  take  what 
is  flat,  insipid  and  empty,  if  not  refuse. 
'No  man  can  do  his  friend  or  child  a  more 
real  service  than  to  snatch  out  of  his  hand 


196  MULTITUDE    OF   BOOKS: 

the  book  that  relaxes  and  efieminates  him, 
lest  he  destroy  his  solids  and  make  his  fibre 
flaccid  by  the  slops  and  hashes  of  a  catch- 
penny press.  But  especially  is  he  a  bene- 
factor who  instils  the  principle  that  no 
composition  should  be  deliberately  sought 
which  is  not  good,  beneficial  and  above 
mediocrity. 

YI.  And  we  cannot  leave  this  part  of  our 
subject  Avithout  inquiring  somewhat  into 
that  strange  phenomenon  of  modern  times 
known  as  periodical  literature,  which  must 
be  included  among  books  of  making  which 
''there  is  no  end."  The  Hebrew  realm,  at 
its  "most  high  and  palmy  state,"  had  not 
attained  to  this.  The  wisest  of  kings  had 
not  devised  that  mental  luxury  which  in  our 
day  is  afibrded  to  the  child.  He  had  "  forty 
thousand  stalls  of  horses  for  his  chariots, 
and  twelve  thousand  horsemen  ;"*  but  he 
could  not  name  a  single  magazine,  review, 

*  1  Kings  iv.  26. 


DANGERS   AND    DUTIES.  197 

or  gazette.  "There  came  of  all  people  to 
hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  from  all  kings 
of  the  earth,  which  had  heard  of  his  wis- 
dom;"* but  his  sage  sentences  did  not 
come  to  so  many  in  all  his  reign  as  are 
reached  by  the  "Times"  or  the  "Moniteur" 
every  morning.  "  "When  the  queen  of  Sheba 
heard  of  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  ....  she 
came  to  prove  him  with  hard  questions  ;"t 
but  in  our  day  kings  and  queens  puzzle 
one  another  through  the  press,  and  the  lead- 
ing-article of  some  haggard  night-watching 
wi'iter  is  conned  in  the  palaces  of  St.  Cloud, 
Windsor,  and  St.  Petersburg.  The  world, 
for  better  for  worse,  has  made  progress  in 
this  direction  at  least ;  and,  if  one  of  the 
year  1000  B.C.  could  visit  Xew  York,  he 
would  find  no  one  spot  more  amazing, 
and  perhaps  incomprehensible,  than  the 
reading-room  of  the  Mercantile  Library, 
where  the  young  clerk   may  inspect  two 


*  1  Kings  iv,  34.  f  1  Kings  x,  1. 

17* 


198  MULTITUDE  OF   BOOKS: 

hundred  and  thirty-three  periodicals.  This 
influence  of  what  has  been  with  sugges- 
tive wit  called  the  "Fourth  Estate"  is 
incalculable;  and,  where  every  one  daily 
peruses  some  portion  of  their  produc- 
tions, it  becomes  a  serious  inquiry  what 
he  shall  peruse.  Is  it  not  true  that  there 
are  men  in  our  cities  whose  whole  lite- 
rature is  the  newspaper?  Is  there  not  a 
larger  class  who  add  only  the  magazine 
and  the  review  ?  Do  we  not  know  persons 
whose  Sabbath  hours  are  given  chiefly  to 
the  religious  journal?  Then  is  there  no 
part  of  the  whole  theme  which  is  more 
momentous.  And,  in  regard  to  the  species 
of  periodical  work  last  named,  I  beg  leave 
to  utter  some  candid  testimony.  Religious 
newspapers  vf\i\(i\i  merit  the  name,  and  which 
convey  the  news  of  Christ's  kingdom,  are 
unspeakably  useful;  they  are  welcome  as 
a  living  friend  would  be  who  should  come 
in  and  tell  us  what  the  Lord  is  doing  on 


DANGERS   AND   DUTIES.  199 

the  earth ;  and  such  a  visitant  dues  not 
profane  holy  time,  unless  he  supplant 
God's  own  word  or  some  acts  of  worship 
and  mercy.  But,  I  fear,  more  visitants  than 
one  come  in  at  this  open  Sabbath-door.  I 
fear  the  politician,  the  worldly-newsman, 
the  amusing  traveller,  the  fiery  partisan 
under  the  sheep's  clothing  of  philanthropy, 
the  angry  polemic,  the  seditious  disunionist, 
— I  fear  all  these  sometimes  approach  the 
bower  of  the  first  day  cf  the  week,  and 
absorb  the  time  of  communion  with  God 
under  the  name  of  religious  journalism. 
And  I  own  myself  jealous  of  any  reading 
which  shall  statedly  and.  periodically  take 
the  place  of  the  spiritual  volume  and  book 
of  devotion. 

But,  whether  secular  or  religious,  our 
serial  publications  are  already  a  power  in 
the  state.  The  literature  of  our  most 
ambitious  and  popular  magazines  has 
been    occasionally   tinctured   with   an   un- 


200  MULTITUDE    OF    BOOKS. 

mistakable  dash  of  infidel  sneer.  And 
each  of  us  should  take  good  counsel 
before  he  rears  his  sons  and  daughters 
on  much  that  flaunts  on  drawing-room 
tables. 


CHAPTEE  Vn. 

READING    HABITS. 

Every  considerate  person  will  have  cer- 
tain books  on  which  to  bestow  a  more 
than  ordinary  attention.  Others  may  rank 
as  casual  acquaintances,  but  these  will  be 
companions,  and,  in  some  cases,  bosom- 
friends.  If,  as  has  been  said,  our  reading, 
as  truly  as  our  society,  forms  our  character, 
there  will  be  some  influences  which  we  must 
wish  to  be  frequent,  if  not  constant.  There 
are  friends  whom  we  w^ould  gladly  welcome 
every  day,  and  a  chosen  few  with  whom  we 
would  even  dwell.  It  is  not  denied  that 
among  the  multitudinous  volumes  in  the 
world  there  are  some  at  which  a  single 
look  is  enough;  for  are  there  not  living 
acquaintances  whom  we  pardon  for  making 
their  interviews  brief  and  rare  ?     Writings 

201 


202  READING    HABITS. 

which  only  amuse  the  vacant  hour,  or  which 
dilute  the  strength  of  more  elaborate  pro- 
ductions, belong  to  this  class.  But  there 
are  others  of  which  we  never  weary,  and  to 
which  we  resort  as  to  a  sprmg  or  a  tree 
which  we  have  known  from  childhood. 
Hence  the  loss  is  great  of  those  hurrymg 
and  desultory  readers  who,  deluded  by  the 
excessive  variety  of  invitiug  literature  and 
yielding  herein  to  the  spirit  of  an  impatient 
age,  rove  from  book  to  book,  skim  the  sur- 
face of  many  productions  and  live  in  the 
ambiguous  satisfaction  of  alternate  expecta- 
tion and  disappointment,  but  who  know 
not  the  enduring,  healthful  delight  of  con- 
verse with  an  old  book.  There  are  works 
so  solid  that  it  is  only  after  years  we  learn 
their  full  value,  and  which  never  please 
more  than  upon  a  tenth  perusal.  All  great 
masterpieces,  in  every  department,  are  of 
this  character.  But  it  is  the  misfortune  of 
many  that  they  grow  weary  of  master- 
pieces.     ^N'ovelty  with    them   is  weightier 


HEADING    HABITS.  203 

than  merit;    and   the   quality  which   they 
seek  in  books  is  like  that  which  they  look 
for  in   perishable    fruits,    the  lusciousness 
of  a  momentarj^  jd^^^^^^'®-     To  cling  to  a 
great  and  lovely  work,  as  one   clings  to  a 
beloved  friend,  is  altogether  beyond  their 
experience.     Yet,  if  I  could  have  the  ear  of 
my  young  friends,   I  would  say  that  such 
closeness  of  acquaintanceship  is  necessary 
to  high  attainment,  and  bas  been  exempli- 
fied in  all  persons  who  have  enriched  their 
minds   by  true   learning.      They  have   re- 
turned again  and  again  to  a  few  favourite 
authors.     On  these   they  have  perpetually 
whetted  the  edge  of  their  wits.     Indeed, 
it  is  wonderful  how  much  acumen  and  how 
much   strength    may    be   acquired   by   the 
faithful  and  repeated  use  of  a  xery  small 
collection.     Since  books  are  without  end, 
there  is  the  more  self-command  needed  to 
secure  due  attention  to  a  few ;  and  the  cases 
are  rare  of  that  concentration  which  gave 
origin  to  the  Latin   proverb,  Beicare  of  the 


204  READING    HABITS. 

man  of  one  book*  Without  so  extreme  a 
narrowing  of  tlie  field  of  diligence,  we  may 
avoid  the  fault  of  unbounded  ramble ;  and 
a  sober,  deliberate  consulting  and  pondering 
of  one  well-chosen  shelf  of  authors  will 
beget  a  strong,  affectionate  partiality,  which 
will  sweeten  toil  and  result  in  harvests  of 
acquisition.  But  this  trait  belongs  rather 
to  an  age  gone  by  than  to  our  own. 

All  the  foregoing  observations  have  a 
direct  reference  to  religious  books  axd 
RELIGIOUS  READING.  And  here  the  subject 
begins  more  fully  to  declare  its  connection 
"wdth  the  high  concernments  of  our  great 
topic.  If,  as  we  seemed  to  own,  every  man 
in  our  day  reads  something,  then  every 
man  who  reverences  Christianity  reads 
somethino;  relictions.  This  is  as  certain  a 
truth  as  that  the  reading  of  every  one  be- 
trays his  liking,  his  choices  and  the  ten- 
dency of   his  heart.      You  will   therefore 

*■  Cave  ab  horuinc  unius  libri. 


READING    HABITS.  205 

scarceij  suspect  that  person  to  have  more 
than  a  nominal,  titular,  or  complimentary 
religion,  a  sort  of  honorary  Christianity, 
wlio  finds  all  his  reading  in  mere  science  or 
mere  letters,  the  secularities  of  the  passing, 
deceitful  world.  You  will  argue  justly — 
and  the  very  children  of  a  family  will  argue 
— that  he  or  she  who  never  or  rarely  takes 
up  a  volume  of  evangelical  warmth  is  but 
a  cold  disciple,  if  a  disciple  at  all.  And 
here  again  we  have  the  obvious  application 
of  the  maxim  that  no  man  can  peruse  uni- 
versal literature,  and  that  the  immensity  of 
the  field  makes  necessary  a  rigid  adherence 
to  some  fixed  path.  From  the  distaste  of 
the  natural  mind  for  the  things  of  the  Spirit, 
inquiring  persons  of  some  cultivation  are 
in  imminent  peril  of  being  drawn  away 
from  the  plain  and  nutritious  works  of 
doctrinal  and  practical  godliness,  to  the  ten 
thousand  winning  and  caressing  glories  of 
-  worldly  genius  and  talent.  We  need  not 
wonder,    therefore,    that,  in    no   age   since 

18 


206  READING    HABITS. 

Christianity  was  promulged,  have  so  many 
professing  Christians  held  themselves  aloof 
from  sound  and  edifvins;  books  on  relio^ion. 
This  repugnance  to  the  very  aliment  in 
which  our  evangelical  forefathers  delighted, 
this  disposition  to  consider  truly  religious 
waitings  as  tedious  and  uninteresting,  if  not 
abhorrent  to  taste,  has  led  to  a  perfectly 
new  species  of  literature,  the  growth  ex- 
clusively of  modern  society  and  the  modern 
church ;  in  a  word,  to  that  which  may  be 
denominated  light  religious  reading. 

Not  to  revert  to  the  religious  new^spaper, 
so  great  in  its  use  and  its  abuse,  we  are 
already  familiar  with  a  class  of  productions 
which  occupy  a  debatable  land  between 
the  church  and  the  world,  and  which,  while 
they  thus  "ride  tbe  marches"  on  the  fron- 
tier, push  forward  their  light  troops  to 
harass  sometimes,  one  party  and  sometimes 
the  other.  The  day  of  ponderous  treatises 
and  systematic  sermons  has  closed,  and 
perhaps  will  not  dawn  again  soon.     Those 


READING    HABITS.  207 

who  live  by  catching  up  the  watchwords  of 
the  hour  and  breathing  the  spirit  of  the  age 
will  unanimously  vote  all  doctrinal  dis- 
courses heavy  and  soporific.  The  strong 
meat  which  suited  the  tastes  and  digestion 
of  strong  men,  whose  faculties  were  exer- 
cised by  reason  of  use  to  discern  good  and 
evil,  must  be  divided  and  triturated  and 
mingled  with  milk  for  babes.  The  wine  of 
pure  reformation-doctrine  must  be  mixed 
with  water.  Since  the  public  will  not  turn 
aside  from  the  attractions  of  a  diversified 
and  parti-coloured  literature,  to  pore  over 
dissertations  concerning  original  sin,  or 
imputed  righteousness,  the  condemnation 
of  man,  and  the  glory  of  Immanuel,  the 
gospel  must  be  made  easy ;  the  edge  of  the 
cup  must  be  sweetened ;  the  pill  must  be 
coated  ;  the  prosaic  doctrine  must  be  set  to 
music ;  what  would  not  go  down  in  the 
shape  of  treatise  or  homily  must  be 
adroitly  fetched  in  in  the  shape  of  dia- 
logue or  story-book.      And    thus   we    are 


208  READING    HABITS. 

gradually  building  up  a  pyramid  of  floral 
beauties  and  sugared  confections  on  the 
very  table  which,  once  groaned  with  masses 
of  truth. 

"Now,  so  earnestly  desirous  are  we  to  have 
the  children  of  our  unsteady  and  drunken 
age  brought  to  the  reception  of  the  pre- 
cious words  of  Christ ;  so  deeply  persuaded 
are  we  that  without  these  they  must  perish ; 
so  fully  do  we  know  the  sweet  potency  of 
these  words  to  be  such  that  even  in  the 
minutest  measure,  under  grace,  they  can 
make  the  dying  live ;  and  so  clearly  do  we 
see  the  multitude  passing  by  and  caring  for 
none  of  these  things;  that  we  would  fain 
have  even  these  means  dealt  with  leniently, 
and  would  agree  to  any  and  every  innocent 
vehicle  of  truth,  so  only  that  the  poor 
wretched  creatures  should  hear  and  learn 
of  Jesus.  "What  then?"  said  Paul,  (and  he 
said  nothing  more  nobly;)  "notwithstand- 
ing, every  way,  whether  in  pretence,  or  in 
ti'uth,  Christ  is  preached  ;   and  I  therein 


READING    HABITS.  209 

do  rejoice,  yea,  and  will  rejoice."*  Never- 
theless, we  are  bound  to  add  that  when 
the  question  is  how  the  most  healthful, 
robust  and  active  Christians  sball  be  formed, 
we  must  plead  for  a  severer  regimen. 

Since  the  world  began,  there  never  were 
so  many  inviting  religious  books  as  at  tbe 
present  time.  In  tbe  same  proportion,  the 
difficulty  of  proper  selection  is  increasing. 
Sucb  as  are  elders  remember  the  days  of 
their  childhood,  when  a  single  armful  of 
volumes  was  the  entire  religious  library  of 
the  young,  and  when,  of  course,  it  did  not 
take  long  to  choose.  It  was  no  part  of  the 
parent's  anxiety  then  to  keep  out  scores 
of  doubtful  productions  bearing  a  Christian 
name.  But  the  evil  is  not  now  confined  to 
juvenile  literature.  As  the  lives  of  profes- 
sors have  become  more  and  more  like  those 
of  the  adversaries ;  as  amusements  and  in- 
dulgences, disallowed  by  spiritual  and  self- 


*  Phil.  i.  18. 
18- 


210  READING   HABITS. 

denying  people  ever  since  there  was  such  a 
thing  as  a  church,  have  become  common  in 
the  practice  of  leading  persons  ;  and  as  the 
tenets  of  disciples  have  worn  away  at  the 
edges,  shaded  oiF  into  compromise  and 
blended  on  every  side  with  errors  and  infi- 
delities subversive  of  gospel  purity,  so  a 
literature  has  grown  up  precisely  mirroring 
forth  this  new  condition  of  religious  fashion ; 
and  the  favourite  writings  of  the  time  are 
such  as  oftend  no  sect  and  are  {me  to  no 
standard.  We  say — with  sadness  and  earnest 
apprehension  we  say — to  those  who  counsel 
for  the  faith  of  the  coming  age,  Take  heed 
what  books  your  souls  live  on  !  It  is  im- 
possible to  be  too  cautious  in  the  selection 
of  religious  reading  for  the  family  and  the 
closet. 

No  duty  is  plainer  than    that  of  stand- 
ing out  firmly  for  the  encouragement  of  a 

MASCULIXE  LITERATURE,  EMBODYING  AND  DE- 
FENDING   THE    PRECIOUS    TRUTHS    OF    THE   Ee- 

FORMATION.     We  want  men  ;  and  they  must 


READING    HABITS.  211 

be  trained  in  liardy  methods.  The  three 
years  which,  as  military  authorities  de- 
clare, are  required  for  transforming  the 
raw  recruit  into  the  disciplined  soldier, 
are  not  s^oent  in  light  or  easy  exercises. 
Mighty  Christian  muscle  wdll  not  be  pro- 
duced by  catching  up  and  devouring  what- 
soever floats  by  on  the  surface  of  the  cur- 
rent authorship.  Let  us  run  all  the  risk 
of  being  judged  censorious,  we  neverthe- 
less affirm  that  the  predominant  trait  of 
the  now  popular  religious  press  is  light- 
ness. In  proportion  as  fancy  has  been 
amused,  the  understanding  has  been  fa- 
mished; every  addition  to  imagery  has 
tended  to  defraud  the  heart.  Sermons 
and  volumes  have  been  constrained  to  be- 
come picture-galleries  of  illustration  and 
series  of  metaphor  and  similitude  gay  as 
the  slides  of  the  magic -lantern.  Even 
this  were  tolerable  if  truth  and  reason 
had  held  their  place ;  we  could  love  and 
embrace   divine   truth    even   in   a   suit  of 


212  READING    HABITS. 

motley  :  but  distinct  vision  of  gospel  verity 
has  been  impaired.  The  system  of  lenses 
has  become  more  entertaining  but  less 
achromatic.  Readers  and  hearers  grow 
less  and  less  able  to  define  with  exactness 
the  doctrines  of  grace.  Doctrine  itself — the 
very  name  of  what  disciples  covet — has  be- 
come with  certain  schools  a  term  of  dis- 
paragement. Let  us  be  fully  understood: 
the  books  which  we  need  are  not  vague, 
compromising,  latitudinarian,  all-compre- 
hensive rhapsodies  or  strains  of  sentimen- 
tality, however  tinted  with  the  rainbow, 
but  undeniable  statements  of  Reformation 
Truth.  Of  making  many  books  there  may 
be  no  end ;  but  there  will  be  a  speedy  end 
of  all  sound  theology  unless  we  can  make 
some  which  shall  utter  a  bold,  intelli- 
gible language  in  regard  to  the  points  for 
which  Huss  died  and  Luther  laboured. 
Many  are  so  lulled  into  sweet  slumbers  by 
the  siren  voice  of  mock-charity  as  not  to 
know  that  there  is  any  controversy.     And 


READING    HABITS.  213 

]iO  marvel;  "  for  if  the  trumpet  give  an  un- 
certain sound,  who  shall  prepare  himself  to 
battle?"*  From  more  than  one  quarter 
the  landmarks  of  Protestant  faith  are  in- 
vaded by  the  literature  of  the  day,  espe- 
cially from  the  sides  of  ritualistic  hierarchy 
and  philosophic  rationalism.  Even  among 
those  unpretending  forms  of  service  where 
nothing  is  prescribed,  where  no  rubrics 
check  the  spirit  of  worship  and  no  canons 
thunder  against  the  removal  of  jot  or 
tittle,  there  is  growing  up  a  party  which 
sighs  for  loftier  pomp,  liturgic  stateliness, 
vestimental  sanctity,  orchestral  music  and 
the  religion  of  cathedrals.  This  is  the  fruit 
of  increasing  refinement,  increasing  wealth, 
and  not  of  increasing  piet}^  Such  persons 
are  already  posting,  by  way  of  Oxford,  to 
Eome.  In  the  opposite  quarter  we  dis- 
cover a  large  array  of  books,  in  varying 
degrees  of  falsehood  and  of  effronteiy,  but 

«  1  Cor.  xiv.  8. 


214  READING    HABITS. 

all  agreeing  iu  this,  that  they  dislike  the 
marked  tenets  of  Calvinistic  theology.  At 
the  extreme  we  have  the  apostates,  such 
as  Francis  [N'ewman,  who  are  scarcely  re- 
cognised as  Christian ;  then  the  deniers  of 
all  proper  inspiration,  sach  as  Scherer  and 
Morell ;  then  the  dreamy  sophists  who  re- 
move all  meaning  from  the  terms  Atone- 
nient.  Justification,  Eternity,  such  as  Mau- 
rice ;  then,  nearer  home,  thousands  who 
reject  original  sin,  eternal  retribution,  vica- 
rious atonement  and  justification  by  faith. 
The  very  mention  of  these  terms  jars  on 
the  ear  of  many  Avho  have  already  been 
drawn  off,  by  hearing  and  reading  erroneous 
books,  to  doubt  the  truth.  Xow,  as  against 
the  evils  indicated,  we  need  a  class  of  works 
which  shall  exercise  and  gratify  the  reason- 
ing powers  and  the  holy  affections ;  both  of 
which  have  been  left  to  weakness  by  the 
rapid  and  indefinite  sentiments  of  our 
period.  We  will  not  force  on  our  con- 
temporaries the  study  of  old  books ;  every 


READING    HABITS.  215 

age  should  have  its  own.  And,  though  we 
hold  that  any  one  treatise  of  John  Owen  ov 
Jonathan  Edwards  has  sohd  bullion  enough 
to  be  beaten  out  into  the  gold-leaf  of  a  hun- 
dred thin  and  glittering  essays  or  stories, 
we  leave  these  great  discoursers  for  their 
few  but  fit  audience,  and  shall  be  content 
if  the  love  of  systematic  Bible-truth  shall 
revive  in  any  shape  in  our  day. 

Lastly:  The  multitude  of  human  com- 
positions will  naturally  lead  a  sanctified 
mind  to  that  which  is  divine,  namely,  the 
Scriptures  of  truth.  I  am  aware  that 
this  will  seem  to  many  readers  one  of  the 
commonplaces  of  the  rehgious  press.  They 
read,  and  they  approve,  but  are  ready  to 
reply,  "Who  doubts  the  excellence  of  the 
word  of  God?"  Yet,  when  we  come  to 
look  into  the  fact,  these  same  persons  do 
not  read  it.  Perhaps,  from  habit  not  yet 
broken,  from  comphance  with  a  mother's 
request,  from  some  remaining  twinge  of 
conscience,    they   efi'ect    the    perusal    of  a 


216  READING   HABITS. 

given  portion  every  day.  It  is  well.  A 
man's  case  is  not  desperate  so  long  as  he 
has  not  ceased  to  pray  and  read  the  Bible. 
But,  as  to  taking  any  pleasure  in  this  peru- 
sal, they  will  not  pretend  to  it.  Indeed, 
many  of  those  whose  case  we  are  consider- 
ing seriously  discredit  all  our  pi^ofessions 
that  we  read  the  Scriptures  for  any  satis- 
faction they  aflbrd.  "We  fear  there  are 
those  within  the  pale  of  the  church  whose 
whole  familiarity  with  the  sacred  volume 
is  an  affair  of  task  and  routine,  and  who 
never  in  their  lives  spent  a  delighted  hour 
over  the  word.  It  would  be  a  point 
gained  with  such  persons,  if  they  could  be 
thoroughly  convinced  of  the  fact  that 
there  are  Christians  who  read  the  Scrip- 
tures for  pleasure,  and  with  an  avidity 
never  awakened  by  any  other  book.  Such 
is  the  unquestionable  truth  in  regard,  we 
love  to  believe,  of  thousands  now  living.  In 
this  book  we  liave  our  Christian  encyclo- 
pedia, our  religious  library.     'No  book  so 


READING    HABITS  217 

rewards  application.  Its  difficulties  yield 
before  study,  and  its  transcendent  beauties 
and  glories  rise  and  grow  upon  us,  like  the 
widening  prospects  of  alpine  countries,  the 
longer  we  toil  and  tlie  higher  we  climb. 
The  literary  charms  of  Scripture  have 
been  often  and  justly  extolled ;  but  we  set 
these  aside  for  the  present  in  order  to  place 
the  study  of  God's  word  on  its  true  basis  : 
it  is  God's  word.  It  is  the  record  of  in- 
finite wisdom  and  infinite  love.  Men  may 
weary  of  the  Bible  who  come  to  it  as  they 
would  to  Homer  or  Herodotus ;  but  it  is 
ever  fresh  to  one  who  comes  to  it  as  to 
the  TJrim  and  Thummim — light  and  pei  • 
fection — the  oracle  of  a  redeeming  God. 
The  life-boat  may  have  a  tasteful  curva- 
ture and  beautiful  decoration ;  but  these 
are  not  the  qualities  for  which  I  prize  it ; 
it  was  my  salvation  from  the  howling  sea ! 
So  the  interest  which  a  regenerate  soul  takes 
in  the  Bible  is  founded  on  a  personal  appli> 
cation  of  heart  to  the  saving  truth  which  it 

19 


218  READING   HABITS. 

contains.  If  there  is  no  taste  for  this  truth 
there  can  be  no  relish  for  the  Scriptures. 
We  do  not  wonder  that  to  carnal  minds 
it  is  a  dull  and  even  a  repulsive  book. 
They  have  no  eyes  to  discern  its  beauties ; 
just  as  they  have  no  eyes  to  discern  the 
beauties  of  its  chief  theme,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Totally  destitute  of  any  relish  for 
spiritual  objects,  they  naturally  turn  aside 
from  that  which  is  all  spiritual.  The  nearer 
any  preaching  approaches  the  Scriptural 
tone  and  strain,  the  more  dull  is  it  in  their 
apprehension.  Having  never  risen  high 
enough  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  sublime 
j.nd  soul-ravishing  realities  of  the  spiritual 
domain,  they  are  utterly  unexercised  in 
that  whole  class  of  operations  which  pro- 
ceed from  the  higher  reason,  and,  in  their 
paltry  imaginings,  they  deem  these  discus- 
sions not  intellectual  enough  for  their  won- 
derful capacities;  as  if  they  had  ever  at- 
tained a  title  to  pronounce  on  a  question 
of  intellect !     But,  stupidly  blind  as  to  their 


READING    HABITS.  219 

i 

own  condition  and  the  remedy  of  the  gos- 
pel, they  regard  evangelical  preaching  as 
vapid  and  uninteresting  for  the  very  quali- 
ties which  repel  them  in  the  Bible,  but 
which  to  the  enlightened  are  full  of 
charms.  St.  Augustine,  after  roving  for 
fourteen  years  among  all  the  sweets  of 
Greek  and  Roman  letters,  had  his  eyes 
suddenly  opened  to  see  the  loveliness  of 
the  Word ;  and  he  straightway  preferred  it 
to  all  the  multitude  of  classic  productions. 

Ko  reader  can  come  too  soon  to  the  dis- 
coveiy  that  it  is  a  want  of  interest  in  God 
and  Christ  which  prevents  his  interest  in 
the  Scriptures  !  Let  that  film  fall  from  the 
eye,  and  what  a  new  world  shall  he  live  in ! 
Let  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  become  to  you, 
as  he  is  to  his  saints,  the  exemplar  and  im- 
personation of  all  that  is  fair  and  noble  and 
ravishing,  the  chiefest  among  ten  thousand 
and  altogether  lovely,  and  you  will  come 
away  from  the  common  herd  of  books  to 
this  gospel  as  you  come  from  the  crowd  of 


220  READING    HABITS. 

the  boisterous,  dusty  streets,  to  the  private 
chamber  where  you  gaze  on  the  countenance 
which  you  value  above  all  on  earth.  Other 
books  may  gratify  shallower  tastes,  scien- 
tilic,  literary,  artistic ;  but  this  shall  wake  up 
profounder  harmonies  and  call  echoes  from 
the  resounding  caverns  of  intimate  nature ; 
this  shall  strike  the  chords  which  are  to 
survive  and  be  vocal  in  eternity ;  this  shall 
open  the  springs  of  sacred  passion  which 
are  to  flow  for  evermore ;  this  shall  bring 
you,  a  rapt  soul,  into  the  holiest  shrine, 
where  seraphs  watch  and  worship,  there  to 
hearken  for  the  whisper  of  God  and  feel 
the  pulses  of  your  Saviour's  bosom.  Ah, 
no !  this  is  as  yet  all  unknown  to  you ;  and 
hence  you  must  abide  amidst  the  lower 
pleasures  of  the  outer  court,  till  a  heavenly, 
controlling  voice  shall  say.  Come  up  higher ! 
Would  to  God,  reader,  you  had  eyes  to 
see  and  ears  to  hear  the  spiritual  things 
which  are  in  the  Scriptures!  Like  the 
merchant  in    the   parable,  you  would  sell 


READING    HABITS.  221 

all  to  buy  this  field  and  secure  this  goodly 
pearl.  You  would  come  away  from  other 
branches  of  learning,  to  hear  God  giving 
utterance  to  his  own  subduing  words.  Be- 
lieve, believe  me,  0  careless  one,  if  there 
are  delights  in  the  works  of  gifted  earthly 
writers,  there  are  none  which  can  be  com- 
pared for  a  moment  to  the  delight  which  a 
renewed  mind  takes  in  Holy  Scripture.  It 
is  this  which  has  led  so  many  of  the  first 
intellects  in  every  age  to  bestow  on  it  their 
maturest,  profoundest,  and  latest  applica- 
tion. These  clusters  do  not  yield  their 
choicest  juices  on  a  first  gentle  pressure. 
These  chief  harmonies  of  the  word  are 
never  educed  by  those  who  drowsily  read  a 
chapter  now  and  then.  Days  may  be  spent 
with  ever-growing  interest  over  the  word 
of  God,  comparing  Scripture  with  Scripture ; 
tracing,  taking  up  and  carrying  forward  the 
thread  of  apostolic  argument ;  listening  to 
the  lyric  burst  of  prophetic  song;  antici- 
pating the  sanctities  of  paradise;  and  cling- 

19* 


222  READING    HABITS. 

ing  by  faith  and  love  to  every  revealed  trait 
of  the  face  of  Jesus,  which  veils  itself  from 
the  careless  but  shines  with  radiant  love  on 
those  who  press  in  to  gaze  more  closely. 
How  do  we  treat  the  letter  of  a  friend  ?  We 
open  it  with  trembling  eagerness ;  we  read 
it  again  and  again.  Which  of  us  thus  reads 
a  letter  of  Paul  or  of  John  ?  Yet  they  may 
be  so  read ;  and  they  must  be  so  read  if  we 
would  be  sincerely  interested  and  fully 
profited.  We  have,  perhaps,  yet  to  learn 
what  it  is  to  hang  over  the  hallowed  pages 
as  we  find  a  Luther,  an  Owen,  and,  in  later 
days,  a  Martyn  and  a  Judson,  to  have  done. 
My  persuasion  is  firm  that  to  the  expe- 
rienced reader  I  shall  not  seem  to  have 
written  too  strongly  or  in  any  respect  un- 
reasonably concerning  books  and  the  book 
of  books.  The  wheels  of  the  age  are  run- 
ning, more  rapidly  than  cursory  observers 
are  aware,  towards  a  catastrophe  which  will 
owe  its  origin  to  our  abuse  of  a  great  bless- 
ing, namely,  our  multiplied  books.  If  there 


READING    HABITS.  223 

was  a  day  when  Satan  tried  to  subvert  the 
press,  that  day  is  now  passed ;  and  his  game 
is  to  subsidize  it.  This  has  been  his  uni- 
form policy.  It  will  be  strange  if  he  should 
forego  his  darling  method  in  respect  to 
education.  Our  endeavour,  and  it  is  one 
in  which  all  the  powers  of  life  might  well 
be  spent,  is  to  form  and  purify  and 
strengthen  the  infant  and  juvenile  mind  by 
schools  and  books.  There  is  not  a  parent, 
a  pastor,  a  Sunday-school  superintendent, 
teacher,  or  librarian,  there  is  not  a  Chris- 
tian author,  editor,  or  bookseller,  who  has 
not  a  serious  responsibility  as  to  the  alfair 
we  have  been  considering.  Its  relation  to 
Sunday-schools  is  clearly  this :  that  they 
prepare  the  readers  ;  and  the  institution,  as 
now  conducted,  to  a  certain  length,  prepares 
the  books.  Could  healthful  opinions  on 
this  subject  be  infased,  to-day,  into  the 
minds  of  the  two  hundred  thousand  Sunday- 
school  teachers  of  America,  the  instant  re- 
sult would  be  an  elevation  of  the  national 


224  READING   HABITS. 

taste  in  reading.  Or  could  even  a  fifth  part 
of  the  two  millions  of  scholars  in  the  land 
be  imbued  with  a  genuine  taste  for  gospel 
nutriment,  the  effect  would  be  recognised 
in  every  evangelical  church  on  this  con- 
tinent. Those  who  have  the  care  of  chil- 
dren and  youth,  and  especially  those  who 
have  the  care  of  juvenile  libraries,  should  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  this.  "We 
teach  little  if  we  teach  not  hoio  to  read. 
Alas !  many  teachers  have  never  learned 
this  for  themselves.  The  weekly  reading 
of  some  young  people  who,  on  the  Sabbath, 
pretend  to  give  spiritual  instruction,  would, 
if  revealed,  put  them  to  shame  by  reason 
of  its  utter  emptiness  and  frivolity. 


CHAPTER  Yin. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    CONSIDERED    AS    BELONGING    TO 
AN   AGE   OF   PREPARATION. 

It  is  a  general  law  of  divine  dispensa- 
tions that  they  are  prepared  for.     This  we 
observe  to  be  true  of  the  redemption  as  a 
whole,  and  true  of  each  single  part  of  the 
series.     The  ancient  church  contained  the 
modern  church  mthin  its  folds,  and  so  made 
ready  for  it;  and  the  entire  Old  Testament 
was  a  preparation  for  the  Kew.     The  his- 
tory of  all  nations,  up  to  this  hour,  is  a  pre- 
paration for  the   mighty  future;    and  the 
■  terrestrial  state  is  a  preparation  for  heaven. 
Or,  if  we  choose  to  look  at  some  of  the 
parts'  singly,  Egypt  and  the  Desert  prepared 
for  Canaan,  and  the  judges  for  the  kings. 
The  captivity  and  the  subjugation  prepared 


226  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   BELONG    TO 

for  the  first  personal  advent.  The  spread 
of  Roman  power  prepared  for  the  disper- 
sion of  Christianity,  and  the  irruption  of 
the  [N'orthern  tribes  for  the  evangelizing  of 
Europe.  As  the  revival  of  letters  preceded 
the  Reformation,  so  the  discovery  of  Ame- 
rica opened  an  outlet  for  the  swai^ming  hive 
of  the  Old  Continent.  The  growth  of  towns 
and  manufactures,  the  decay  of  feudalism, 
the  rise  of  a  middle  class,  the  ecclesiastical 
and  municipal  revolutions  of  a  convulsive 
period,  prepared  for  the  assertion  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty,  for  the  application  of 
new  sciences  to  new  arts,  for  the  commerce 
of  nations,  and — dark  as  the  human  omens 
are  this  day  —  for  the  eventual  reign  of 
peace.  The  present  state  of  the  world,  in 
all  its  parts,  will  be  seen,  when  more  is  seen 
and  more  clearly,  to  be  the  swelling  bud  of 
a  glory  which  only  inspiration  indicates, 
and  that  in  the  coloured  symbols  of  pro- 
phecy. If  we  may  forecast  fruit  from  the 
blossom  on  the  tree,  and  harvests  from  the 


AN    AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  227 

green  corn  in  the  waving  blade,  and  manly 
strength  from  the  promise  of  the  cradle, 
then  may  we  augur  future  blessings  from 
Christian  infancy  and  thousands  of  cate- 
chumens. 

A  great  deal  is  said  in  the  Bible  about 
preparing  the  way  of  the  Lord.  One  very 
beautiful  and  striking  place  is  in  the  fortieth 
chapter  of  Isaiah,  which  I  remember  to  have 
read  almost  thirty  years  ago, upon  a  lofty  crag 
of  a  mountain  in  my  native  State.  And,  by- 
the-by,  such  application  of  the  Bible  to  jN'a- 
ture  and  of  Mature  to  the  Bible  is  often  the 
most  excellent  commentary.  "  O  Zion,  that 
bringest  good  tidings," — such  is  the  trum- 
pet-voice,— "  get  thee  up  into  the  high  moun- 
tain ;  0  Jerusalem,  that  bringest  good  tid- 
ings, lift  up  thy  voice  with  strength ;  lift  it 
up,  be  not  afraid ;  say  unto  the  cities  of  Ju- 
dah,  Behold  your  God  !"  It  is  a  note  of  pre- 
paration. ''  The  voice  of  him  that  crieth  in 
the  wilderness.  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  Je- 
hovah, make  straight  in  tlie  desert  a  high- 


228  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    BELONG   TO 

way  for  our  God.     Every  valley  shall  be 
exalted,  and  every  mountain  and  hill  shall 
be   made   low,   and   the   crooked   shall  be 
made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain ; 
and  the   glory   of   Jehovah   shall    be   re- 
vealed, and  all  flesh  shall  see  it  together; 
for  the  mouth  of  Jehovah  hath  spoken  it." 
]^ow,  if  any  one  of  my  readers  should 
happen  to  be  expounding  this  passage  to  a 
class  of  very  young  children,  who  are  always 
literalists,  he  might  find  it  needful  to  ad- 
monish them  that  the  coming  of  Messiah 
was  not  to  be  preceded  by  a  levelling  pro- 
cess in  the  material  earth,  such  as  should 
reduce  all  its  surface  to  the  condition  of  a 
smooth,  unbroken  sphere,  like  an  artificial 
school-globe.     The  teacher  would  make  the 
pupil  comprehend  that,  as  long  as  human 
minds  conceive  of  unseen  things  under  the 
figure  of  things  that  are  seen,  so  long  hu- 
man minds  will  be  addressed  in  the  lan- 
guage of  metaphor,  and  this  by  God  him- 
self    The  coming  of  the  King  to  bless  his 


AN   AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  229 

church  is  after  preparations.  Monarchs  - 
send  pioneers  and  harbingers  before  them 
to  cry  in  the  highways,  to  remove  obstruc- 
tions, to  fill  up  chasms,  and  in  every  way 
to  facilitate  the  royal  approach.  The  hin- 
derances  to  our  Lord's  advent  are  not  the 
Alps,  the  Andes,  or  the  Himalaya,  nor  yet 
the  basins  of  mighty  valleys  or  the  ocean- 
beds,  but  immaterial  heights  and  depths. 
The  triumphant  advance  shall  be  on  a 
highway  without  a  depression  or  a  hillock ; 
and,  when  God  comes,  he  will  come  by  a 
series  of  preparatory  steps  which  shall  leave 
nothing  unprovided  for. 

So  far  as  our  planet  is  concerned,  the 
great  end  of  all  God's  providential  arrange- 
ments is  the  salvation  of  a  multitude  of  our 
race,  including  their  conversion,  sanctifi.ca- 
tion  and  eternal  bliss.  All  these  ends  are 
reached,  under  the  manifold  working  of  the 
Spirit,  by  the  means  of  truth.  The  prepa- 
ration which  the  world  waits  for,  and  which 
heaven  is  providing,   is   the  opening  of  a 

20 


230  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    BELONG   TO 

clear  way  fur  truth,  the  instrument  in  the 
Almighty  hand,  excavating  and  extending 
the  channels  of  knowledge,  building  reser- 
voirs and  laying  conduits,  spreading  over 
the  whole  earth  a  network  of  lines,  carrying 
the  waters  of  life,  and  fixing  at  fit  centres 
those  propelling  engines  which  shall  drive 
the  flood  of  instruction  to  the  extremities, 
as  the  heart  fills  the  arteries  in  living 
bodies. 

As  laid  down  on  any  map,  historical,  po- 
litical, or  prophetic,  this  Xew  World  of  ours 
must  occup}'  a  notable  space.  Can  we  per- 
suade ourselves  that  it  is  not  to  be  the  stao-e 
for  great  action,  or  that  it  is  left  out  in 
God's  scheme  of  preparation  ?  And  in  re- 
gard to  the  august  future,  what  part  of  the 
population  of  our  hemisphere  is  so  likely  to 
be  subjected  to  a  preparatory  process  as 
•ihildren  and  youth  ?  Childhood  and  youth 
are  themselves  but  the  preparation  for  man- 
hood. However  it  may  have  become  a 
watchword  of  national  vaunting,  it  is  fear- 


AN    AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  231 

fully  true  that  the  growing  States  of  our 
commonwealth  are  unlike  all  other  States, 
and  that  their  influence  is  to  be  felt  on  other 
portions  of  the  globe.  Demagogues  and 
party  hacks  may  run  away  with  this  great 
truth,  and  defile  it  on  the  ground,  and 
seemingly  rend  it  to  tatters  ;  but  it  abides  a 
great  truth  still. 

Leaving  for  the  time  other  reasons,  let  us 
consider  the  accession  of  foreigners  which 
marks  this  age  of  emigration ;  and  what  is 
here  affirmed  of  the  United  States  is  true 
in  varying  degrees  of  the  British  Provinces, 
of  Australia,  of  Southern  and  Western 
Africa,  of  ISTew  Zealand,  and  will  soon  be 
true  of  the  Pacific  Isles  and  of  the  basins 
of  the  Amazon,  the  Orinoco  and  the  La 
Plata.  By  a  remarkable  law  of  ^ature  and 
Providence,  the  stream  of  emigration  is 
towards  some  land  of  promise  :  it  is  towards 
fertile  soils  and  veins  of  gold ;  it  is  towards 
Australia  and  California  and  the  West,  and 
not  towards  Belgium  or  China.     In  other 


232  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   BELONG   TO 

words,  the  tide  of  men  is  towards  lands  not 
yet  peopled.  It  is  an  emptying  process. 
And  the  quality  of  the  portion  so  emptied 
is  worthy  of  note.  The  emigration  of  the 
earth  comprises  those  who  are  awake,  those 
who  are  discontented,  those  who  are  ripe 
for  experiment,  those  who  are  enterprising 
and  lusting  for  the  largest  liberty.  Espe- 
cially is  this  true  of  the  secondary  emigra- 
tion, or  those  w^ho  go  from  us  towards  the 
setting  sun.  For  some  time  yet  to  come, 
the  title  "  Californian"  w^ill  carry  much  of 
the  meaning  which  in  the  days  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  belonged  to  the  title  "Virginian." 
Our  population,  which  once  lay  in  the  old 
thirteen  provinces  as  a  few  calm  lakes  lie  in 
the  bosom  of  the  State  where  I  live,  has 
risen  w^itli  a  preternatural  tide,  and  now 
swells  over  the  mountain-barriers,  not  like 
a  stream,  but  an  ijiundation.  I  pen  these 
lines  in  a  summer-retreat  among  the  gorges 
of  the  Alleghany,  once  the  rim  of  the  basin. 
The  hunter  still  claims  this  region,  and  the 


AN   AGE    OF   PREPARATION.  233 

crack  of  the    rifle   salutes   our  ears  every 
hour.     But   this  barrier  is   already  as  no- 
thing, ai^d  the  wave  surges  onward.     This 
very  day  the  w^ild  deer  of  the  hills  is  scared 
away  by  the  detonation  of  rocks  riven  for 
the  great  Western  railway.      K  calculators 
tell  us  that  "figures  cannot  lie,"  let  them 
go  on  to  tell  us  further  what  shall  be  the 
power  of   a  commonwealth  of  a  hundred 
millions;    or   let   them   show  us   how  any 
forces  now  at  our  command  can  govern  the 
swell  of  this  heaving  flood  so  that  its  mo- 
tions may  be  harmless,  not  to  say  beneficent. 
Every  lesson  of  physical  geography  shows 
us  that  no  artificial  or  conventional  influ- 
ences can  much  vary  the  national  problem; 
and  that  if  temporary  causes  give  a  prece- 
dence to  the  Atlantic  slope  and  tjj^e  strip  of 
country  on  the  Pacific,  nevertheless,  the  vast 
nucleus  of  population  must  forever   abide 
in  the  basin  drained  by  the  Missouri  and 
Mississippi  and  their  tributaries.     If   God 
intend  good  for  us,  and  for  our  race  by  us, 

20^ 


23-4  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    BELONG    TO 

we  cannot  doubt  that  lie  will  throw  abroad, 
even  in  our  day,  an  influence  which  shall  be 
largely  and  simultaneously  preparative.  If 
the  Lord  means  to  save  America  and  to 
make  our  descendants  happy,  he  will  sug- 
gest and  sustain  the  preliminary  work  of 
seedtime,  and  will  shed  broadcast  know- 
ledge over  these  opening  furrows.  This  we 
may  expect  as  certainly  as  that  a  princely 
husbandman,  intending  to  enrich  vast  tracts 
with  copious  harvests,  will  provide  for  the 
same  by  clearing,  enclosing  and  sowing 
his  ample  fields.  We  never  more  clearly 
strike  in  with  the  plans  of  sovereign  Pro- 
vidence than  when  we  project  schemes  of 
preparation  for  propagating  divine  know- 
ledge in  regions  far  apart,  and  thus,  in  a 
manner,  conferring  ubiquity  on  truth. 

And  here  we  must  beware  how  we  suffer 
predilections  for  any  favourite  method  to 
make  us  narrowly  partial  in  our  judgment, 
as  if  all  the  good  which  the  world  or  our 
land  needs  is  to  come  from  Sunday-schools. 


AN    AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  235 

It  is  truth,  and  not  any  one  means  of  con- 
veying it,  whicli  is  mighty  in  the  hand  of 
God's  Spirit.  The  ministry  of  the  word, 
communicated  under  the  moving  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  will  ever  stand  first  among  all 
human  agencies ;  and  Sunday-schools  have 
successfully  laboured  to  inculcate  this  les- 
son, and  have  Sabbath  after  Sabbath  trans- 
ferred their  little  bands  to  the  more  import- 
ant services  of  the  sanctuary.  Public  edu- 
cation, church  schools,  family  teaching  and 
training,  cheap  printing,  awakened  author- 
ship, the  distribution  of  books  and  tracts, 
and,  in  a  word,  all  that  we  mean  by  mis- 
sions, tend  powerfully  towards  the  same  re- 
sult, and  all  go  to  prepare  the  way  of  the 
Lord,  all  under  his  guidance  lead  towards 
the  setting  up  of  a  spiritual  rule  among  our 
posterity.  'Not  one  of  these  means,  or  of 
such  as  these,  should  for  a  moment  be  re- 
garded as  unimportant.  It  is  the  common 
fault  of  narrow,  one-sided  minds  to  cherish 
attachment  for  one  or  a  few  means  of  use- 


286  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   BELONG   TO 

fulness,  and  to  reject  or  undervalue  all 
Others.  For  what  are  all  these  but  so  many 
branches  of  one  river  ?  But,  among  all  the 
instrumentalities,  not  one  bears  more  di- 
rectly on  the  preparatory  work  of  God  than 
that  which  we  have  been  considering.  The 
religious  education  of  youth  levels  the  high- 
way for  our  King. 

Sunday-schools  are  means  of  prepara- 
tion FOR  God's  gracious  advent  to  Ame- 
rica. "We  have  elsewhere  seen  the  relation 
of  such  schools  to  God's  unalterable  ordi- 
nances, the  Family  and  the  Church ;  to 
both  which  our  institution  is  not  a  rival, 
but  an  humble  handmaid.  The  very  ob- 
viousness of  the  method  suggests  a  ground 
of  defence.  The  Sunday-school  is  one  of 
the  simplest  things  in  the  world.  But  it  is 
often  God's  pleasure  to  work  out  grand  re- 
sults by  small  means.  It  is  only  the  teach- 
ino;  of  reli2:ion  to  children  on  the  Lord's 
day.  A  single  school  is  but  a  single  spring; 
but  the  combined  associated  schools  of  the 


AN   AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  237 

land  are  the  system  of  waters,  in  fountain, 
lake  and  river,  over  a  whole  continent. 

From  the  very  outset  of  these  essays,  two 
co-ordinate  modes  of  teachius:  have  been 
held  forth  before  the  reader's  view,  as 
equally  adopted  by  the  Sunday-school  as 
existing  in  America : — the  mode  of  oral 
LESSONS  and  the  mode  of  books.  It  is  the 
desire  and  purpose  of  good  men  to  expand 
the  operation  of  these  means  indefinitely  in 
the  land.  Of  this  Sunday-school  system 
we  are  to  speak  as  a  preparation. 

I.  The  Sunday-school  is  preparative,  in 
an  eminent  sense,  because  it  proposes  to 

TEACH  THAT  KNOWLEDGE  WHICH  IS  FUNDA- 
MENTAL. It  begins  at  the  right  place.  All 
other  teaching  in  other  schools  and  colleges 
begins  at  some  point  in  the  circumference 
or  the  radiating  lines,  and  at  best  scatters 
itself  about  several  disconnected  portions ; 
this  begins  at  the  centre.  It  agrees  with 
the  Christian  family-school,  of  which  it  is 
but  an  enlargement,  in  taking  things  at  the 


238  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    BELONG   TO 

source.  It  starts  from  the  mountain  head- 
spring, ready  to  flow  down  and  widen  on 
every  side.  It  gives  the  jprinciple  from 
which  all  goes  forth  as  from  a  real  cause. 
It  tells  the  veriest  babe  concerning  God, 
and  in  the  very  words  of  God.  We  have 
already  seen  that  from  a  thousand  text- 
books it  chooses  the  text  of  God.  This  is 
in  a  high  degree  preparatory  of  God's  work, 
because  the  book,  so  far  from  becoming  ob- 
solete, will  be  better  for  the  next  generation 
than  for  the  present,  since  it  will  be  better 
understood  and  by  more  persons,  and  will 
be  nearer  to  the  accomplishment  of  its  own 
plans  and  predictions.  No  agency  is  so 
illuminating :  it  kindles  the  soul  of  the  in- 
fant and  the  slave.  "  The  entrance  of  thy 
word  giveth  light ;  it  giveth  understanding 
to  the  simple."  Surely,  if  any  book  can 
prepare  a  generation  for  the  great  things 
which  God  is  about  to  bring  upon  the 
earth,  it  is  the  book  which  reveals  those 
very  things,  which  opens,  fold   atter  fold, 


A-N    AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  239 

the   embroidered  web  of  Providence,  ana 
foretells  more  and  more  clearly  the  course 
which    coming   changes   shall    take.      In- 
spired prophecy  was  never  more  interesting 
and  was  never  more  searched  into  than  at 
this  day.     For  every  great  change  among 
men   God    has    made   preparation   by   the 
Bible,  in  whole  or  in  part :— for  the  Captivity, 
for  the  Eeturn,  for  the  Incarnation,  for  the 
calling  of  the  Gentiles,  for  the  age  of  apos- 
tolic diffusion  and  the  age  of  martyrdom, 
for  the  Reformation,  for  the  consolidation 
of  evangelical  churches  under  sound  creeds, 
for  the  renewed  work  of  missions ;  and  now, 
in  our  own  day,  for  the  uniting  together  of 
nations  and  the  dawn  of   national  peace. 
And  the  Bible  will  still  be,  in  the  hands  of 
our  children's  children,  a  book  of  prepara- 
tion for  those  as  yet  unwhispered  revolu- 
tions which  are   hereafter  to  be  wrought. 
The  mighty  powers  which  were  lately  hover- 
ing about  Sebastopol  and  casting  the  eye 
of  ambitious  cupidity  upon  Constantinople 


240  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   BELONG   TO 

know  not  the  smallest  elements  of  the  pro- 
blem they  are  working  out :  they  consider 
not  that  the  end  of  warfare  shall  be  Christ's 
glory,  neither  doth  their  heart  think  so  ;  but 
the  day  is  coming  when  the  child  shall  read 
it  all  in  the  book  of  the  wars  of  the  Lord. 
Let  infidelity  or  superstition  pluck  away,  if 
it  choose,  this  sacred  treasure  from  our  com- 
mon schools :  we  will  by  so  much  the  more 
arm  ourselves  to  enshrine  it  by  religious 
schools,  weekly  and  daily,  in  the  citadel  of 
every  man's  mountain-home,  the  camp  of 
every  migration,  and  the  crowded  mart  of 
every  commercial  race.     Its  progress  is  like 
that  of  the  "greater  light,"  whose  going  forth 
is  "  from  the  end  of  the  heaven  and  his  cir- 
cuit unto  the  ends  of  it,  and  there  is  no- 
thin  o^  hid  from  the  heat  thereof."     In  our 
laborious  and  expectant  work,  let  us  never 
doubt  that  the  Scriptures  in  youthful  hands 
prepare  the  way  for  Him  "  that  shall  come." 
n.  The    Sunday-school,    as    a   mode    of 
Christian  education,  in  carrying  forward  its 


AN    AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  241 

preparatory  work,  gives  its  instructions  at 
THE  right  time.     Ill  somo  other  relations, 
we  have  above  considered  the  wisdom  of 
dealing  with  children  rather  than  men  :  we 
now  contemplate  the  same  in  its  bearing  on 
the  great  preparation  of  the  age.      While 
we  drive  our  furrow  through  fresh  prairie- 
soil,  and  drop  our  golden  seed-corn  in  lands 
of  promise,  we  are  doing  that  which  we 
know  not,  but  which  God  knows  and  has 
determined  to  bless.      And  when,  instead 
of  waiting  for  the  mass  to  harden,  we  lay 
our  forming  hand  upon  the  moist,  ductile 
clay,  we  are  moulding  the  Young  America 
to  make  it  the  Christian  America.  Worldly- 
wise  men  may  scoff  at  our  results ;  and  they 
are  less  than  we  desire  and  mean ;  but  no 
man  can  scoff"  at  the  method.     All  it  needs 
is  a  larger  surface  on  which  to  print  its  cha- 
racter. Only  give  us  Sunday-school  teachers, 
Christian  educators  and  toilsome  parents- 
only  give  us  room  and  let  us   alone — and, 
with  God's  blessing  on  what  he  has  bidden 

21 


242  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    BELONG   TO 

US  perform,  we  will  inscribe  the  name  of 
Jesus  on  the  plastic  form  of  every  future 
citizen.  Only  give  us  the  means  of  reach- 
ing the  whole  juvenile  nation,  and — of 
earthly  aids — we  ask  no  more. 

Throu2:hout  this  discussion  I  have  not 
concealed  the  truth  that  in  a  Christian 
land,  which  in  its  very  laws  recognises  God, 
and  the  Sabbath,  and  the  act  of  worship 
called  an  oath,  and  liberty  of  belief  and  re- 
ligious practice — this  last  inferring  liberty  to 
teach — it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  have 
Christian  schools.  And  while  I  refrain 
from  the  attempt  to  commit  any  others, 
even  the  association  which  utters  these 
essays,  to  any  such  opinion,  I  am  equally 
firm  in  my  belief  that  parish  day-schools 
are  an  important  means  of  propagating  and 
maintaining  truth.  Yet,  with  others  better 
qualified  to  pronounce,  I  fear  we  can  never 
see  our  wishes  fully  accomplished  in  these 
directions.  And  therefore,  while  we  shall 
not  cease  to  labour  for  this  end,  we  rejoice 


AN   AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  243 

to  carry  forward  what  is  consistent  with  the 
other,  the  preparatory  service  of  Sunday- 
schools.  One  day  in  seven  seems  little;  but 
it  has  sufficed,  under  God,  to  carry  saving 
knowledge  to  thousands.  Give  us  more 
materials  for  our  experiment.  We  desire 
to  overtake  the  westward  multitude,  to 
arrest  those  little  ones  who  are  to  be  the 
great  ones  of  an  impending  day,  and  to 
shape  a  million  of  infant  minds  before  they 
are  warped  and  scorched  in  the  world's 
fiery  furnace.  l!^ot  to  speak  of  other  regions, 
we  wish  to  set  up,  in  that  West  which  we 
familiarly  call  great  in  utter  ignorance  of 
its  portentous  greatness,  churches  and 
schools  in  every  settlement ;  so  doing,  we 
shall  at  every  such  point  have  erected  an 
engine  which  will  be  in  full  play  when  we 
are  asleep,  influencing  portions  of  new  so- 
ciety which,  but  for  this,  would  be  flinging 
abroad  the  lawless,  gigantic  arms  of  frontier- 
license  and  ferocious  disbelief.  Let  the 
forecasting  merchant,  the  father  amid  his 


244  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   BELONG   TO 

patrimonial  acres,  and  the  prosperous  me- 
chanic or  manufacturing  capitalist,  as  he 
reads  this  page  in  his  quiet  home,  cast  the 
eye  forward  on  the  possible  future  of  his 
sons  and  of  the  country.  And  let  him  arise 
and  give  us  help  to  bring  in  children  to  be 
prepared  for  that  future.  It  is  the  children — 
the  CHILDREN — that  we  demand ;  for  are  not 
these  the  stuft"  that  States  are  made  of? 
Give  us  more  such  subjects,  and  how  blessed 
a  preparation  will  it  be  for  the  Lord,  and 
how  full  of  hosannas  the  throng  which 
meets  and  accompanies  the  feet  of  our  ad- 
vancing King !  For  such  culture  as  ours 
there  is  no  lack  of  untilled  soil.  According 
to  the  census  of  1850,  there  are  in  the 
United  States  between  five  and  six  millions 
of  free  children  between  five  and  fifteen 
years  of  age,  of  whom  not  more  than  four 
millions  are  at  school  at  any  time  during 
the  year.  Between  one  and  two  millions 
of  children  are  without  the  means  of  in- 
struction, and  more  than  a  million  of  free 


AN   AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  245 

adults  are  unable  to  read  or  wi-ite  !  Proba- 
bly four  millions  of  children  and  youth  of 
suitable  age  to  attend  are  not  connected 
with  Sunday-schools.  Give  us  a  million  of 
these  in  schools.  Will  it  not  be  a  prepara- 
tion ?  AVill  not  a  chasm  have  been  filled  ? 
Will  not  a  mountain  have  been  brought 
low  ?  Daily  should  we  pray  for  God's  blessing 
on  his  own  seminary — the  family-school — 
and  on  the  common  schools  of  the  States ; 
nevertheless,  we  need  instantly,  as  an  im- 
miediate  discipline,  looking  to  future  trials, 
a  gratuitous  Sabbath-training  of  the  poor, 
and  this  with  an  object  which  is  now  to  be 
stated. 

m.  The  most  important  part  of  the  pre- 
paration which  the  Sunday-school  attempts 

is  TO  BRING  THE  YOUNG,  UNDER  DIVINE  GRACE 
EFFICACIOUSLY  SUPERINTENDING,  TO  JESUS 
CHRIST,  AND  SALVATION  BY  HIM.  On  plat- 
forms and  in  miscellaneous  journals  we 
are  all  tempted  to  take  something  lower 
than    vantage-ground,    and    to    argue    for 

21* 


246  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   BELONG    TO 

Bible-education  from  certain  temporal  and 
collateral  benefits;  and  many  sucb  there 
are.  But  let  us  frankly  profess  our  aim: 
we  look  for  the  conversion  of  the  child  to 
God.  And  we  know  of  no  greater  promise 
for  the  time  that  is  coming  than  a  multi- 
tude of  converted  children.  Unbelief  ob- 
jects many  things  :  we  know  what  wretched 
worldlings  and  carnal  professors  are  wont 
to  urge.  But  children  may  be  converted ; 
have  been  converted;  are  actually  con- 
verted, day  by  day.  All  the  preaching, 
praying,  writing,  training,  toiling  of  the 
church  has  for  its  sole  object  the  salva- 
tion of  men.  The  nation  cannot  be  con- 
verted too  early.  By  God's  blessing  on 
faithful  labour,  thousands  may  be  brought 
home  in  youth ;  which  involves  a  real  ad- 
dition of  tens  of  thousands  of  years  of 
actual  service  to  Christ  and  the  country, 
and  of  more  than  even  this  in  quality  and 
character.  It  is  not  necessary  to  do  more 
than   allude  to  Baxter's  famous  aphorism, 


AN    AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  247 

that  if  Christian  parents  and  teachers  did 
their  duty,  conversion  in  adult  hfe  would 
be  the  exception  and  not  the  rule.  If  some 
heavenly  wand  could  wave  above  us  and 
instantaneously  confer  true  religion  on 
every  child  in  the  land,  what  a  result ! 
What  a  preparation  for  the  future  glory! 
What  can  we  crave  higher  or  fuller  of 
promise  ?  Since  those  who  are  to  sway 
the  rule  of  our  nation  —  nay,  to  be  them- 
selves the  nation  —  are  now  in  their  mo- 
thers' arms,  it  becomes  an  awakening  ques- 
tion whether  any  good  proportion  of  these 
shall  be  Christian.  'No  well-conducted  Sun- 
day-school has  been  reported  to  us  in  which 
the  salvation  of  some  pupils  has  not  been 
credibly  affirmed.  This  is  believed  to  be 
true  of  the  feeblest  schools,  set  up  far  in 
advance  of  complete  church-organization. 
The  latter  are,  undoubtedly,  the  great 
nieans ;  but  the  former  often  make  the  re- 
connaissance, open  the  country,  take  pos- 
session of  the   ground,    occupy   posts  and 


248  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   BELONG    TO 

establish  the  base  of  subsequent  opera- 
tions ;  moreover,  doing  all  this,  as  has  been 
sufficiently  intimated,  with  precisely  such 
subordination  to  the  church  as  the  church 
chooses  to  assume.  To  set  up  Sunday- 
schools  as  in  contrast  with  the  church  is 
to  treat  vedettes  and  advanced-posts  as 
rivals  of  the  army.  Particular  churches 
cannot  much  outnumber  ministers  of  the 
gospel ;  and  the  array  of  these,  it  is  pro- 
verbially repeated,  is  far  too  small.  Is 
there  nothing  which  can  be  done  while 
we  await  the  growth  of  more  ministers  ? 
Above  all,  shall  nothing  be  done  when 
there  is  not  a  private  Christian  w^ho, 
directly  or  indirectly,  might  not  work  in 
the  behalf  of  education  ?  See  how  the 
nebulous  matter  of  new  and  thin  popula- 
tions gathers  itself  around  the  nucleus  of  a 
school;  how  the  uniting  and  reviving  in- 
fluence goes  abroad;  how  the  rally  ends 
in  new  churches  of  every  Christian  name. 
The  blessing  of  grace  accompanies  the  self- 


AN   AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  249 

denying  toil,  and  the  psalmody  of  the  forest 
or  the  waste  celebrates  the  tender  mercies 
of  our  God.  Does  my  reader  rank  the 
affair  among  trifles  because  these  are  chil- 
dren ?  ^ay,  think  again.  It  is  because  they 
are  children,  because  they  are  docile  and 
tender,  because  they  are  the  America  that 
is  to  be,  because  accordingly  as  they  are 
good  or  evil  our  America  is  to  be  a  bless- 
ing or  a  curse  among  the  nations,  that  we 
esteem  their  conversion  to  Christ  a  fit  pre- 
parative for  the  coming  of  Him  who  said, 
''Beware  how  ye  despise  one  of  these  little 
ones ;  for  verily  I  say  unto  you,  their  angels 
do  always  behold  the  face  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven." 

We  may  now,  with  justice,  return  to 
examine  some  of  those  incidental  and  col- 
lateral advantages  of  Sunday-schools,  which, 
as  we  admitted,  fall  short  of  the  great  eter- 
nal good.  Christian  education  trains  the 
national  mind,  intellectually  and  morally. 
The   many   thousands    who    are    annually 


250  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    BELONG    TO 

passing  from  our  public  State-schools  into 
society,  have  been  the  subjects  of  a  training 
which  has  studiously  ignored  the  two  great 
facts  of  man's  history, — the  fall  and  the 
REDEMPTION.  If  six  days  are  ingeniously 
silent  about  the  existence  of  a  sun  in  the 
heavens,  the  seventh  may  be  allowed  to  dis- 
close the  great  and  dangerous  secret,  espe- 
cially to  a  people  not  yet  either  popish  or 
infidel.  The  Sunday-school  teaches  to  read. 
It  opens  the  Bible.  It  creates  a  new  litera- 
ture. It  produces  a  taste  for  knowledge  of 
truth.  It  prints  and  circulates  thousands 
of  books,  concentrates  them  in  libraries, 
scatters  them  among  families,  and  increases 
its  stores  with  a  rapidity  which  befits  the 
wonderful  haste  and  impatient  ardour  of 
our  day  and  people.  ISTever  were  such  ef- 
forts more  needed,  because,  as  we  have  said 
in  its  proper  place,  never  did  men  read  so 
much.  There  is  not  a  watering-place  in  the 
land  where  the  visitors  might  not  be  thank- 
ful for  access  to  a  good  collection  of  Sun- 


AN   AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  251 

day-school  books.  In  very  weariness  of 
tableaux,  balls  and  cards,  we  have  seen  the 
poor  jaded  creatures  turn  for  relief  even  to 
a  religious  book.  For  is  not  reading  for 
amusement  the  national  pastime  ?  But 
teach  a  youth  reading,  and  what  results  ? 
Knowledge  is  power.  His  power  is  in- 
creased. You  have  put  into  his  hands  an 
edged  tool ;  but  who  shall  say  whether  to 
slay  his  enemy  or  to  slay  himself?  Carry 
a  child  through  a  secular  school ;  you  do 
well :  but  is  this  all  you  have  to  do  ?  "What 
is  it  but  to  lead  him  to  a  tree  of  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil?  You  increase  capacity; 
no  more.  That  capacity  may  be  filled  with 
the  sublime  and  gracious  ideas  of  God  in 
Christ,  reconciling  sinners  by  the  blood  of 
his  cross,  and  of  perfect  holiness  embodied 
in  Immanuel  and  copied  in  his  chosen  ones 
here  and  hereafter ;  but  it  may  otherwise  be 
filled  with  the  weakening  inanities  of  ro- 
mance and  play-books,  the  yet  worse  slops 
of  what  may  be  called  fun-literature,  the 


252  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    BELONG    TO 

viler  provocatives  to  licentiousness  which 
stare  at  us  from  public  windows  and  are 
thrust  upon  us  by  the  infant  solicitors  of 
vice  about  our  quays  and  great  hotels,  or 
by  the  infidel  and  atheistical  sophistries  of 
malignant  scoffers.  Again  must  it  be 
urged,  in  this  new  connection,  that,  as  read- 
ers have  increased,  and  as  the  mechanical 
powers  have  become  cheaper,  the  supply  of 
bad  matter — nauseous,  pestilent  and  damn- 
ing beyond  all  I  dare  hint  at  —  has  with 
equal  pace  increased,  till  there  is  not  a 
putrid  depth  of  infamy  which  has  not  its 
presses,  nor  a  mephitic  sewer  into  which 
some  guide  may  not  be  found  for  gain,  in 
the  shape  of  a  conscience-seared  publisher. 
Which  of  us  has  not  wondered  whether 
great  booksellers  administer  to  their  own 
wives  and  daughters  the  pabulum  which 
they  announce  at  the  trade-sales  ?  It  is  be- 
yond contradiction  that  in  the  great  cities, 
and  above  all  in  Kew  York,  our  sons  and 
daughters  can   scarcely  be   intrusted  with 


AN   AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  253 

certain  daily  prints,  or  even  peruse  the  ad- 
vertising columns,  mthout  the  risk  of  a  pre- 
cocious acquaintance  with  that  which,  a 
century  ago,  would  have  been  hurried  off 
with  burning  cheeks  to  the  nearest  fire. 
Floods  of  passionate  fiction,  from  sons  of 
Behal,  come  to  our  very  doors.  So  far  as 
can  be  observed,  the  nuisance  increases. 
Many  operatives,  female  as  well  as  male,  in 
large  manufactories,  though  often  in  a  cer- 
tain sense  educated,  alternately  inflame  and 
hebetate  themselves  by  the  adulterate  litera- 
ture of  pamphlet  novels.  Youth  must  be 
trebly  armed  and  clad  in  harness  of  proof 
to  go  through  school  or  college,  or  the  as- 
sociations of  some  commercial  and  most 
fashionable  circles,  without  losing  some- 
what of  the  ingenuous  blush  of  virginal 
innocence.  Our  very  children  are  endan- 
gered by  a  corrupt  literature.  Let  us  ob- 
serve, all  this  is  an  education ;  all  this  draws 
forth  and  trains  the  mind;  it  is  a  culture 
which  may  countervail  all  the  more  formal 

22 


254  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    BELONG   TO 

teachings  of  the  academy  By  concentric 
and  ever-widening  circles  of  influence,  this, 
agency  goes  more  and  more  to  create  public 
sentiment.  We  may  not  see  the  plague- 
spots  to-day ;  the  contagion  may  be  latent 
for  a  little :  but  we  shall  see  them  to-mor- 
row; and — horrible  thought! — the  virus  is 
insinuated  into  forming  minds. 

Gentle  reader,  whose  Christianity  too  sel- 
dom breaks  the  charm  of  easy  slumber,  if 
the  tithe  of  what  has  been  said  is  true,  who 
is  to  stand  between  the  living  and  the  dead, 
to  stay  the  plague,  to  save  our  progeny,  if 
not  the  virtuous  and  courageous  laity  of 
the  church  ?  And  about  whom  shall  they 
throw  their  arms  of  love  and  protection,  if 
not  about  the  invaluable  youth  who  as  yet 
are  pure  from  such  extremes  of  vice  and 
unbelief?  A  counter-influence,  a  preventive 
teaching,  an  early  inculcation  of  gospel 
truth  in  all  its  saving  fulness,  are  indis- 
pensable if  we  would  prepare  Christ's  way. 
We  must  not  wait  to  cast  out  tlie  evil ;  we 


AN    AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  255 

must  pour  "  the  sincere  milk  of  the  \YOrd" 
wliere  Satan's  emissaries  are  holding:  forth 
phials  of  gall  and  poison.  We  must  begin 
soon  and  persevere  long, — "  line  upon  line, 
line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept,  pre- 
cept upon  precept,  here  a  little  and  there  a 
little," — with  distinctness,  with  affection, 
with  wisdom,  with  vehemence,  with  prayer ; 
following  up  the  boy  and  girl,  the  young 
man  and  maiden,  with  an  Argus-vigilance 
and  a  maternal  faithfulness  and  a  Christ- 
like benignity;  never  letting  go  the  child, 
the  pupil,  Qr  the  ward,  till  we  know  him  or 
her  to  be  settled  and  grounded  in  the  deep- 
est principles  of  faith.  Every  young  dis- 
ciple may  do  something,  and  all  together  may 
do  wonders,  for  God  in  this  work  of  prepa- 
ration. Able  pens  must  write,  and  power- 
presses  must  despatch  the  holy  messages 
from  centre  to  circumference.  From  the 
penny  card,  broad  sheet  and  tract — instru- 
ments undervalued  by  many  high-minded 
but  ignorant  professors — to  the  learned  vo- 


256  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    BELONG   TO 

lume  of  high  argument,  must  printed  truth 
be  poured  through  all  the  channels  of  trade 
and  travel,  and  borne  to  the  distant  clear- 
ing and  the  solitary  log-cabin  of  the  border; 
for  after  all  we  shall  find  that  the  black 
wing  of  the  demon  flies  swiftly,  and  that 
his  mutterings  of  seduction  and  unbelief  are 
heard  in  secret  chambers  before  our  tardy 
Christianity  can  reach  the  spot.  If  there 
is  a  hope  for  our  land,  if  public  virtue  is 
not  to  be  a  wreck,  if  meddling  fanaticism 
and  barbarian  lawlessness  are  not  to  pro- 
fane our  constitution  and  annul  our  union, 
if  the  hosts  of  youthful  souls  are  to  be 
guarded  against  debauching  error,  if  wicked 
ballads,  books  and  journals  are  not  to  have 
free  course,  and  if  Christianity  is  ever  to 
prevail,  then  many  of  us  there  are  whose 
prime  duty  it  is  to  get  up  from  our  lounges 
of  refined,  self-pleasing  and  fashionable  re- 
ligion, and  gird  ourselves  for  hard  work. 
And  if  something  of  the  sort  does  not  ap- 
pear among  our  wealthy  and  titular  Chris- 


AN    AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  257 

tendom,  we  may  expect  that  God  will  turn 
the  tide  of  our  prosperity  and  curse  our 
blessings.*  The  means  are  in  our  hands. 
The  very  books  are  made  or  are  making. 
The  existing  mechanism  can  now  carry  a 
true  religious  influence  through  all  the 
great  trunks  of  trade  and  all  the  ramify- 
ing pipes  of  knowledge.  What  need  we 
but  concerted  universal  application  of  the 
strength  now  latent  in  the  laity,  in  order  to 
set  the  current  in  motion  ?  I  am  pleading 
the  cause  of  the  Bible  Society,  and  of  book 
and  tract  societies,  and  of  missionary  socie- 
ties, as  much  as  of  our  own  particular 
work ;  for  every  one  of  these  is  promoted 
by  the  Sunday-school.  Faithful  attempts  to 
circulate  and  perpetuate  holy  books — first 
the  Bible  and  then  such  as  explain,  illus- 
trate, enforce  and  apply  the  Bible — will 
prepare  the  way  of  the  Lord.  Educate  the 
common  mind ;  educate  it  in  infancy  and 
youth.    Urge  your  efforts  under  a  due  sense 

*  Malachi  ii.  2. 

22* 


258  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    BELOXG   TO 

of  the  delicate  susceptibilities  of  a  young 
soul :  no  chaste  flower  was  ever  more  sensi- 
tive ;    not  a  touch  of   evil   but   leaves  its 
blighted  spot.     Laying  aside  our  common 
depi-avity,  which  we  admit  as  incontestable, 
the  souls  of  children  are  blanks  in  respect 
to  doctrinal  truth;  blanks  to  be  filled  by 
Satan   or  by   you.      Stupidly   ignorant,  or 
diabolically  cruel,  is  that  parent  who  would 
keep  her  babe   from  the  very  earliest  ac- 
quaintance with  elementary  religious  truth. 
The  children  of  millions  of  ungodly  and 
incompetent  parents,  the  children  whom  no 
church  owns  and  who  can  read  no  book, 
look  to  us  to  be  filled  with  saving  know- 
ledge.   This  is  the  time,   these   are  the  sub- 
jects,   and  you,  my  reader,  you  are  the  in- 
vited labourer.     Come  forward,  out  of  that 
genteel  formalism  and  that  Sunday  ease  of 
church-luxury;  come  and  help  to  rescue  a 
comins:    sreneration   from   the   pressure   of 
falsehood  and  crime.     The  highway  is  pre- 
paring;   and   by  this  generation.      I  pray 


AN    AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  259 

you,  by  every  known  means,  to  ply  the  be- 
nignant task;  but,  above  all,  by  means 
which  look  directly  towards  the  nursery  and 
the  school. 

While  our  attention  has  been  detained 
about  the  various  sides  of  this  important 
field,  we  have  sometimes  found  objects 
coming  within  the  range  of  vision  which 
seemed  almost  secular.  'Now,  although  in 
treating  of  religion  we  ought  to  be  always 
jealous  of  any  thing  which  keeps  us  long 
away  from  the  cardinal  point,  namely,  the 
Lord  Jesus,  dying,  interceding  and  reign- 
ing, there  are,  nevertheless,  many  second- 
ary views  which  pertain  to  the  grand 
prospect.  Thus,  there  were  details  in 
temple-work  subsidiary  to  the  chief  affair 
of  slaying  and  offering  the  victim.  There 
were  duties  preparatory:  hewing  of  wood 
and  drawing  of  water;  services  not  to  be 
omitted,  from  the  investiture  of  the  high- 
priest  down  to  the  task  of  the  J^ethinim, 
musicians   and   collectors   of  alms  for  the 


260  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    BELONG   TO 

chests  of  the  treasury.  In  making  ready  for 
a  king's  approach  there  are  required  many 
toils,  much  structure,  much  levelling ;  but 
all  this  is  forgotten  when  the  auo;ust  and 
beloved  form  appears  upon  the  nearer  hills. 
So  shall  we,  or  ours  who  remain,  be  ab- 
sorbed, "when  He  shall  come  to  be  glori- 
fied in  his  saints,  and  to  be  admired  in  all 
them  that  believe  in  that  day."  The 
church  from  her  watch-tower  descries  her 
approaching  King;  ''far  off  his  coming 
shines."  God  calls  her,  calls  us,  to  tell 
all  around  what  is  approaching;  just  as 
men  climb  to  heights  to  see  and  report 
the  advance  of  a  glorious  procession.  "  O 
Zion,  that  bringest  good  tidings,  get  thee 
up  into  the  high  mountain ;  O  Jerusalem, 
that  bringest  good  tidings,  lift  up  thy  voice 
with  strength ;  lift  it  up ;  ...  .  say  unto 
the  cities  of  Judah,  Behold  your  God!"  0 
church  of  the  first-born,  set  the  trumpet  to 
the  mouth,  sound  the  note  of  welcome. 
Let    your  loins   be   girt    about,    Christian 


^ 


AN    AGE    OF    PREPARATION.  261 

readers,  and  let  your  hands  be  employed, 
that,  when  the  Master  cometh  to  judge  the 
earth  and  deliver  his  people,  you  may  be 
in  the  highway  of  his  approach,  strewing 
the  palm-branch  and  casting  your  gar- 
ments in  his  path.  O  ye  children,  now  in 
the  embrace  of  Christian  nurture,  out  of 
the  mouths  of  such  as  -you  will  He  perfect 
praise;  learn  early  to  say,  ^'Hosanna  to 
the  Son  of  David  !" 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

THE  COLLATERAL  INFLUENCE  OF   SUNDAY-SCHOOLS 
UPON    THE    SOCIAL    CONDITION    OF    THE    POOR. 

In  the  discussion  wliicli  has  preceded,  it 
has  very  clearly  been  impossible  to  avoid 
frequent  reference  to  the  social  influences 
of  Sunday-schools  ;  but  before  these  labours 
close  we  desire  to  give  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject a  distinct  consideration. 

Godliness,  being  profitable  unto  all  things, 
and  having  the  promise  of  the  life  that  now 
is  as  well  as  of  that  which  is  to  come,  can 
never  fail  to  exert  a  power  on  human  so- 
ciety. While  it  fits  men  for  heaven,  it 
makes  them  happier  on  earth ;  in  build- 
ing the  church  it  enriches  the  State.  All 
our  argument  for  Sunday-schools  as  pro- 
motive of  social  welfare  will  necessarily  be 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        263 

a  reducing  of  this  general  truth  to  its 
species  and  particulars.  Sunday-schools  are 
means  of  applying  Christian  principles  in 
certain  ways.  They  constitute  an  instru- 
ment by  which  the  church — in  the  catholic 
sense  of  that  august  term  which  we  have 
heretofore  adopted  —  applies  itself  to  the 
help  of  distressed  humanity  in  pursuance 
of  the  second  table  of  the  Law.  Under 
what  we  shall  never  cease  to  consider  a 
higher  purpose  of  the  church,  she  is  placed 
in  society  with  an  express  design  to  diffuse 
over  it  a  healthful  influence.  Her  progress 
is  centrifugal,  first  from  a  grand  centre  and 
then  from  subordinate  radiant  points ;  act- 
ing as  light,  as  salt,  as  leaven.  Here  Wil- 
berforce's  observation  would  be  pertinent, 
that  Christianity  works  wonders  in  nations 
beyond  the  circle  of  those  who  are  truly 
converted;  but  her  great  formative  influ 
ence  is  in  those  w^ho  obey  the  gospel.  His 
tory  cannot  furnish  evidence  of  any  thing 
if  it  does  not  establish  that  wherever  Chris- 


264       SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND   THE    POOE. 

tianity  has  entered  into  a  nation  its  effect 
has  been  to  civilize.  And  under  this  wide 
statement  we  may  affirm  that  it  has  con- 
tinually impressed  itself  upon  the  social 
forms.  It  might  be  triumphantly  proved 
by  the  miracles  of  transformation  wrought 
by  early  Methodism  on  some  of  the  most 
antisocial  and  brutalized  portions  of  British 
society,  portions  abandoned  by  a  national 
church,  assuming  to  be  that  of  the  poor,  to 
an  ignorance  and  degradation  which  the 
inhabitants  of  a  new  country  happily  can- 
not comprehend.  To  effect  such  benefits 
the  church  has  many  arms  stretched  forth ; 
but  all  her  efforts  are  summed  up  in  that 
dispensation  of  the  Truth  by  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  enlightens,  renews  and  saves 
the  soul.  All  the  virtues  of  home  and  so- 
ciety are  enjoined  by  Christianity,  which 
carries  along  with  it  into  every  mass,  even 
of  gentilism,  the  Scriptures,  the  sanctuary, 
the  sacraments,  holy  alms,  wedlock,  the 
training    and  worship  of  households,    and 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        265 

that  which  is  the  golden  cestus  enclosing 
all,  the  Sabbath. 

In  these  manifold  attempts  of  religion  to 
improve  the  societies  in  which  she  is  esta- 
blished, there  is  always  an  intention  to  ac- 
complish these  following  objects.  First,  the 
advantages  conferred  are  not  to  cease  and 
determine  ^vith  the  present  age,  but  must 
be  transmitted  to  coming  generations.  Se- 
condly, the  tremendous  evils  under  which 
society  now  groans,  and  which  in  their 
actual  condition  of  mature  inveteracy  are 
attacked  at  great  disadvantage,  must,  in 
regard  to  posterity,  be  effectually  prevented, 
for  prevention  is  better  than  cure.  Thirdly, 
the  only  conceivable  mode  of  preventing 
social  evils  among  our  descendants  is  to 
teach  and  train  the  children  of  ourselves 
and  our  contemporaries.  Thus  are  we,  by  a 
simple  process,  led  to  conclusions  which 
fully  justify  the  Christian  education  of  all 
ages,  and  the  special  claims  of  the  Sunday- 
school  as  a  prominent  class  of   influences 


266        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AXD    THE    POOR. 

under  the  general  scheme.  T\"e  would  fain 
hope  that  the  wide  scope  of  our  argument 
might  win  to  our  great  principle  some  from 
even  those  tirnid  and  scrupulous  minds  who 
cannot  smile  on  the  Sunday-school  because 
it  has  no  precedent  in  the  ages  of  mediaeval 
faith  or  the  engagements  of  the  Solemn 
League  and  CoA'enant.  It  is  a  mode  of  educa- 
tion. Even  should  Sunday-schools  run  their 
race,  and  cease,  amid  the  meridian  histre 
of  a  completed  national  regeneration,  we 
gain  something  if  we  can  win  for  them  the 
general  assent  and  co-operation  of  good 
men  in  our  own  day  of  social  ferments.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  repeat  what  we  have 
already  hazarded  to  write  concerning  the 
place  which  the  institution  holds  in  Chris- 
tian Catechesis.  Our  present  task  is  to 
exhibit  in  cursory  remark  the  means  which 
the  Sunday-schooL^  as  hereinbefore  described, 
with  its  co-ordinate  appliances,  possesses 
for  discovering,  remedying  and  even  pre- 
venting many  of  the  direst  evils  of  modern 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        267 

society,  especially  in  the  unnatural  aggrega- 
tion of  towns  and  cities.  It  will  be  obvious 
that  of  these  influences  some  are  direct 
and  some  are  indirect ;  this  being  true  of 
Christianity  itself.  Around  the  illuminated 
region  which  is  fully  reached  and  occupied 
by  truth,  there  is  a  selvedge  of  influence,  a 
limbus,  (if  we  may  use  a  figure  consecrated 
by  Eomanism,)  in  which  the  force  is  diluted 
but  not  lost.  Some  of  these  modes  of  bene- 
fit suggest  themselves  at  once  to  every 
reader.  But  the  controlling  reason  w^hy  so 
much  time  has  been  given  to  this  part  of  a 
subject  altogether  overlooked  by  legislators 
and  statesmen  is,  that  just  in  proportion  as 
we  practically  carry  out  the  theory  of  Sun- 
day-schools do  we  benefit  society  even  in 
those  respects  which  interest  the  political 
economist.  So  that  if  those  able  and  often 
benevolent  schemers  who  treat  of  national 
welfare  were  not  shut  up  by  the  bigotry  of 
their  class  to  a  one-sided  view  of  the  case 
as  merely  secular,  they  would  at  once  re- 


268        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND   THE    POOR. 

cognise  in  the  schools  of  religious  truth  an 
element  which  enters  with  momentum  into 
every  calculation. 

The  wealth  of  nations,  Aviselj  considered, 
is  more  than  their  riches.  Agreeably  to 
the  Anglo-Saxon  etymology,  the  term  im- 
ports welfare,  or  the  common  weal.  The 
science  which  has  this  for  its  object  soars 
much  higher  than  questions  of  land,  labour, 
currency,  productive  power  and  commerce. 
Government,  as  well  as  national  economy, 
contemplates  a  thousand  questions  which 
savour  of  morality.  The  evik  of  society 
have  a  moral  origin  :  bred  in  the  individual, 
they  corrupt  the  mass.  And  the  readers  of 
this  volume  will  acknowledge  that  of  such 
evils  the  only  effectual  corrective  is  the  re- 
ligion of  Jesus  Christ.  We  can  say  this 
without  conceding  any  thing  to  those 
patronizing  philosophers  and  politicians 
who  think  they  compliment  religion  when 
they  notice  it  among  the  auxiliaries  of  go- 
vernment, just  as  apothecaries  enroll  music 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE    POOR.        2G9 

amid  the  drugs  of  the  Materia  Medica.  No : 
the  benefits  which  religion  confers  in  this 
life  are  only  blessings  which  she  scatters  on 
her  march  to  immortality.*  Yet  the  grace 
of  God  cannot  bloom  in  any  community  of 
men  without  diiFusing  on  every  side  a  celes- 
tial aroma.  And  these  sacred  influences, 
conveyed  by  education,  flow  in  upon  social 
evils  at  the  only  stage  where  there  is  good 
hope  of  success.  The  Sunday-school,  all 
over  certain  countries,  is  applying  itself  to 
the  diseases  of  the  body  social  and  politic, 
in  the  season  of  childhood.  In  our  pre- 
vious investigations  we  have  learned  how 
incalculable  is  the  advantage  of  giving  our 
instructions  early;  the  end  in  view  being 
individual  improvement  of  mind  and  heart. 
We  shall  find  the  same  true  in  regard  to  the 
cure  or  the  prevention  of  social  evils.  All 
those  former  benefits  derived  best  in  child- 
hood we  here  assume  and  carry  along  with 

*  Robert  Hali. 
23* 


270        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE    POOR. 

116,  while  we  promise  similar  good  in  regard 
to  the  organic  difficulties  of  mankind.  But 
that  which  is  our  chief  attempt  is  to  show 

THE  COLLATERAL  INFLUENCE  OE  SuNDAY- 
SCHOOLS     UPON     THE    SOCIAL     CONDITION     AND 

HABITS  OE  THE  DEGRADED  POOR.  There  are 
poor  who  are  not  degraded,  and  whom  we 
delight  to  except  from  all  our  moral  stric- 
tures. 

Ever  since  the  revolution  in  society 
which  ensued  upon  the  decay  of  feudal- 
ism, the  rise  of  a  middle  class  and  the  in- 
crease of  individual  independence  among 
the  people,  there  has  been  arising  a  set  of 
new  problems  for  the  philanthropist.  Cases 
which,  in  an  awkward  but  effectual  man- 
ner, were  provided  for  by  the  feudal  lord  or 
the  master,  have  lapsed  into  the  hands  of 
everybody  and  fallen  into  neglect  between 
the  old  method  and  the  new.  Under  those 
often  oppressive  systems  there  was  no  man, 
however  degraded,  who  might  not  look  up 
to  some  protector  and   provider   in   a  last 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE    POOR.        271 

resort.  In  the  slow  growth  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal corporations,  that  care  of  the  poor  which 
belonged  to  the  secular  lord  fell  at  length 
in  part  to  some  church  or  abbey.  It  suited 
the  views  of  the  priesthood  to  encourage 
a  system  which  more  than  all  things  else 
enabled  them  to  control  the  gifts  and  be- 
quests of  the  superstitious.  When  Ro- 
man Catholic  writers  vaunt  the  alms  of 
great  houses  and  the  dole  to  beggars  at 
cloister-gates,  they  fail  to  tell  us  what  pro- 
portion this  bore  to  the  immense  property 
which  had  been  seized  by  the  church.  They 
likewise  fail  to  bring  proof  that,  during  the 
popish  times,  beggary  was  so  cared  for  by  re- 
ligious houses  as  that  no  burden  lay  on  the 
community  at  large.  So  far  is  the  reverse 
true,  that  grave  disorders  are  known  to 
have  arisen,  long  before  the  Reformation, 
from  the  clamours  of  pauperism.  An  in- 
teresting testimony  to  this  point  is  given 
by  Lewis,  in  his  "  History  of  Bible  Transla- 
tion;"— "Before  I  proceed,"  says  he,  "to 


272       SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE   POOR. 

give  an  account  of  -the  next  edition  of  the 
English  Bible,  it  may  not  be  wholly  un- 
acceptable to  the  reader  to  observe  to  him 
an  historical  passage  in  the  Preface  of  Co- 
verdale  to  the  Bible  just  now  spoken  of, 
relating  to  the  increase  of  the  poor  here  in 
England ;  and  that  the  rather,  because  of 
the  pompous  boasts  made  by  the  Roman- 
ists of  their  charity,  and  the  hard  reflec- 
tions made  on  us  by  them  for  the  want 
of  it,  as  if  the  great  number  of  beggars 
were  owing  wto  the  Reformation,  and  par- 
ticularly to  the  dissolution  of  the  religious 
houses,  as  the  monasteries  were  falsely 
called,  at  whose  gates,  a  professed  Pro- 
testant tells  us,  all  the  poor  of  the  nation 
were  supported.  But  now  Coverdale  here 
appeals  to  the  senses  of  his  reader,  and 
bids  him  'lift  up  his  eyes  and  see  how 
great  a  multitude  of  poor  people  runne 
thorowe  every  towne ;'  and  this,  too,  at  a 
time  when  these  religious  houses  were  at  the 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        273 

very  height  of  then'  prosperit}^"*  Never- 
theless, modern  society  has  not  been  yet 
f  able  to  devise  a  method  of  managing  this 
evil.  Hence  the  public  science  of  all  na- 
tions is  largely  occupied  with  questions 
caused  by  the  helpless  and  the  criminal 
classes. 

In  every  country  there  is  as  much  in- 
equality in  means  of  support  as  in  moral 
character ;  in  ever}^  country  there  are  mul- 
titudes who  do  not  support  themselves. 
Poverty  is  not  pauperism;  and  we  leave 
out  of  view  those  numerous  cases  in  which 
even  great  necessity  is  coupled  with  a  good 
life.  Wherever  population  is  most  dense 
the  curse  of  want  is  most  apparent.  Misery 
of  this  sort  seeks  the  crowd,  and  hence  is 
most  rife  in  cities  and  great  towns.  The 
older  the  country  or  the  community,  the 
more   inveterate   the    disease.      There   are 


*  Quoted  in  Works  of  Dugald  Stewart,  ed.  of  Sir  William 
Hamilton,  186a,  vol.  ix.  p.  260. 


274        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR. 

spots  in  London  which  have  been  running 
sores  of  pauperism  and  vice  probably  ever 
since  Mao-na  Charta.     Inhabitants  of  rural 
districts  in  our  own  wide  and  fruitful  land, 
where  no  one  need  starve  unless  he  choose, 
can   scarcely  understand   the   morbid  con- 
dition of  certain  parishes  in  England,  where 
the   poor-rates   devour  their  very  strength 
and  the  care  of  beo:o;ars  is  almost  like  the 
administration  of  a  kingdom.     Whatever 
means  we  may  take  to  account  for  it,  the 
complaint  in  all  settled  societies  is  of  suffer- 
ing from  idleness,  or  want  of  work,  or  want 
of  due  remuneration.     Society,  in  these  old 
countries  and  in  the  older  portions  of  our 
own,  is  largely  made  up  of  members  who 
not    only   confer   no    strength,    but    drain 
away   life-blood    like    so    many   issues   or 
leeches.     Such    are    those    who    have    no 
fixed  trades  or  callings,  living  from  hand 
to  mouth,  strollers,  prowlers,  idlers,  mendi- 
cants, from  whose  ranks  the  levy  is  made 
for  thieves,  burglars,  coiners  and  still  baser 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        275 

sorts.  In  the  older  cities  even  of  America 
there  sometimes  comes  up  a  monitory  mur- 
mur from  these  subterranean  depths.  lN"o- 
thing  is  wanting  but  organization  to  make 
these  cUisses  truly  formidable.  At  certain 
feverish  periods  we  hear  the  sullen  com- 
plainings of  poor  against  rich,  and  of  toil 
against  investment ;  inklings  of  a  profound 
alienation  and  class-hatred,  which  breeds 
revolutions.  Such  wounds  ask  for  a  reli- 
gious healing.  The  most  solid  govern- 
ments of  Europe  were,  in  1848,  shaken  to 
their  bases  by  the  heaving  of  these  very 
masses.  For,  as  the  ovil  spreads,  higher 
classes  become  involved,  and  the  honest 
workman  takes  the  part  of  the  proletaire. 
Is  not  a  large  part  of  the  statesmanship  of 
Europe  employed  in  quieting  the  danger- 
ous classes?  Is  not  even  war  sometimes 
invoked  as  a  lesser  evil  than  the  uprising 
of  Chartists  or  Red  Republicans  ? 

i^ow,  the  religious  aspect  of  this  subject, 
connecting  it  with  what  was  dear  to  our  be- 


276        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE    POOR. 

nignant  Redeemer,  cannot  escape  the  ob- 
servant mind.  A  condition  of  the  populace 
presenting  many  of  these  points  existed 
during  our  Lord's  ministiy  in  Palestine. 
His  teachings,  as  well  as  those  of  his  fore- 
runner, were  directed  to  harmonize  these 
discordant  elements.*  These  very  teachings 
are  what  we  require  for  the  bleeding  wounds 
of  modern  society.  But,  unfortunately,  one 
of  the  immediate  consequences  of  the  ma- 
lady itself  is  indisposition  towards  the  cure. 
All  ignorance  and  irreligion  run  to  barba- 
rism, and  this  by  their  dissociative  tendency. 
They  cause  rents  in  the  fabric.  They  de- 
stroy the  cohesion  and  resolve  the  structure 
of  society.  The  poor  and  the  rich,  the  evil 
and  the  good,  come  to  live  apart,  and  to 
dream  that  their  interests  are  separate  and 
contrary.  Worst  of  all,  the  classes  who 
most  need  the  loving  care  of  the  church  are 


*  Let  tho  reader  carefully  consult  Luke  ill.  10-li;  Matt.  v. 
41,  xvii.  24-27,  xxii.  15-22. 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE    POOR.        277 

those  wliicli  have  most  lapsed  from  under 
its  influeuce.  Xot  only  the  degraded  poor, 
but  thousands  who  build  our  palaces,  drive 
our  beasts,  frame  our  decorations,  and  sail 
our  ships,  have  no  longer  any  community 
with  us  in  our  Sabbaths  and  our  churches. 
"Whole  classes  have  drifted  away  from  under 
church-influence.  Although  this  is  not  the 
place  for  enlarging  on  it,  I  must  record  the 
judgment  forced  upon  me  by  long  residence 
in  a  great  city,  that  wealthy  Christians, 
amidst  all  their  benefactions,  have  yet  neg- 
lected one  grand  means  of  lessening  civic 
evils  and  portentous  heartburnings ; — I  mean 
the  opening  of  large  and  comely  edifices  for 
the  lowest  and  poorest,  where  they  may  hear 
God's  word  for  nothing,  and  from  the  ablest 
lips.  We  are  behind  the  Roman  Catholics  in 
providing  church-room  for  all  classes.  And 
we  are  losins:  our  influence  on  thousands 
whom  we  might  gain  over  to  religion.  This 
is  the  complaint  not  of  one  country,  or  of  one 

denomination,  but  of  all.     Say  not  that  we 

24 


278        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE    POOR. 

introduce  matter  not  relisfioas :    it   '/5  reli- 


^&' 


gious,  for  it  concerns  the  bringing  fellow- 
creatures  near  to  the  words  of  Him,  con- 
cerning whom  it  is  said,  -'The  common 
people  heard  him  gladly."*  Go  down  a 
little  lower  in  society,  and  inquire  what  our 
luxurious  and  palatial  exhibition  of  the 
gospel  is  doing  for  thousands  of  beggars, 
thieves,  drunkards,  publicans  and  harlots. 
Sallies  are  indeed  occasionally  made  from 
our  well-appointed  fortresses  in  these  direc- 
tions, but  Christianity  among  us  is  only  in 
theory  the  religion  of  the  poor.  The  ag- 
gressive and  evangelistic  character  of  Chris- 
tianity ceases  in  "  this  weak  piping  time  of 
peace."  Xo  radical  or  impracticable  pro- 
ject is  latent  in  these  remarks.  We  do  not 
complain  that  the  poor  are  excluded  from 
particular  houses  of  worship ;  this  were  a 
small  evil  if  others  were  open  to  them. 
But  we  complain  that   thousands  are  left 


*  Mark  xii.  37. 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        279 

withoat  auy  approach  of  the  gospel  to- 
wards them,  and  this  from  generation  to 
generation.  In  the  case  of  England, 
we  observe  that  the  wealthiest  established 
church  in  the  world,  which  has  persisted  in 
levying  for  sustentation  even  upon  dissi- 
dents, on  this  pretext  of  being  the  Church 
of  the  Poor,  has  allowed  a  population  to 
grow  up,  even  in  her  metropolis,  which,  for 
ignorance  of  religion,  is  unsurpassed  in 
Christendom.*  These  social  ills  are  mon- 
strous enough  in  the  Old  Continent  to  ap- 
pal us  of  the  New  and  put  us  on  our 
guard. 

These  evils  admit  of  no  radical  cure  ivhich  is 
not  religious.  To  all  the  apostles  of  Theo- 
philanthropism,  Godwinism,  St.  Simonian- 
ism,  Fourierism,  Icarianism,  Owenism,  and 
Mormonism,  they  cry,  "  Miserable  comfort- 
ers are  ye  all !"     These  evils,  even  when 


*  Our  authority  in  regard   to  London  is  the  statement  in 
Mayhew's  "  London  Labour  and  London  Poor." 


280       SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND   THE    POOR. 

physical,  have  moral  causes.  Take  the  most 
comprehensive  of  the  formulas  which  ex- 
press them — POVERTY — and  seek  its  cause. 
There  are,  indeed,  exempt  cases,  as  when  a 
shipwrecked  mariner  crawls  naked  on  a 
foreign  shore,  or  where  years  of  disease 
have  eaten  up  all  one's  honest  savings ;  but, 
as  all  the  world  knows,  poverty  arises  from 
ignorance  and  vice.  It  was  want  of  pru- 
dence, it  was  neglect  of  organic  laws,  it  was 
unthrift,  idleness,  gluttony,  vanity  of  ap- 
parel, drunkenness,  gambling,  incontinence, 
lust  of  pleasure  and  amusement,  covetous- 
ness,  or  fraud,  which  caused  this  starvation. 
What  two  lands  on  earth  have  had  fewest 
paupers?  Scotland  and  ^ew  England. 
What  have  they  in  common  to  account  for 
this  ?     Their  religious  schools. 

It  is  the  blessedness  of  America  that,  ex- 
cept in  certain  Alsatias  of  our  commercial 
cities,  these  things  are  matters  well-nigh 
fabulous.  The  Southern  States  have  their 
own  troubles  :  but  they  have  not  this  ;  they 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        281 

"have  not  a  masterless  pauperism  festering 
at  their  gate.  Mendicity  and  poor-laws 
ought  to  be  regarded  among  us  as  not  less 
monstrous  than  the  Sphinx  or  the  Mino- 
taur. They  belong  to  another  system,  an- 
other stadium  of  history,  another  hemi- 
sphere. Indeed,  most  of  our  specimens  are 
brought  over  ready-prepared  from  the  horius 
siccus  of  Europe.  Yet  the  vitality  of  their 
seeds  is  portentous ;  and  as  almost  every 
weed  of  agriculture,  not  excepting  the  fa- 
miliar dandelion,  has  been  imported  with 
our  seed-corn  from  abroad,  so,  unless  we 
beware  in  time,  the  social  ills  of  the  Old 
World  will  sprout  and  blossom  and  poison 
in  the  Is"ew.  Commissions  from  legislatures 
already  make  visits  to  some  menagerie  of  the 
Five  Points  or  Laurens  or  Baker  Streets,  or 
some  normal  case  of  crowded  lofts,  bad  air, 
bad  food,  bad  hours,  filth,  tobacco,  whisky, 
cutaneous  horrors,  unlettered  and  irreligious 
youth,  railing,  violence  and  general  help- 
lessness.    Every  such  spot  is  a  nursery  of 

24- 


282        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND   THE    POOR. 

beggary,  cholera  and  crime.  ''  Is  there  uo 
balm  iu  Gilead?  Is  there  no  physician 
there  ?  Why  then  is  not  the  health  of  the 
daughter  of  my  people  recovered?" 

Vice  and  misery  act  and  react  on  one  an- 
other. Every  form  of  sin  is  a  social  poison. 
Those  who  wander  through  our  population 
on  missions  of  mercy  are  accustomed  to 
find  nestling  together  in  the  same  foul 
tangle,  ignorance,  dirt,  disease,  tatters,  ob- 
scenity, sloth,  intemperance,  starvation  and 
impiety.  The  temptations  of  misery  are 
pressing:  so  thought  the  son  of  Jakeh, 
when  he  prayed  against  poverty  for  this 
reason: — "Lest  I  be  poor  and  steal  and 
take  the  name  of  the  Lord  in  vain."*  Herd 
the  degraded  poor  together,  especially  for  a 
few  generations,  and  they  reach  peculiar 
depths  of  degradation.  The  son  of  the 
tippler  becomes  a  tippler;  the  son  of  the 
beo-2:ar  becomes  a  beggar;  the  son  of  the 


*  Prov.  XXX.  9. 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        283 

thief  becomes  a  thief.  The  neighbourhood 
is  as  well  known  to  its  own  class  and  to  the 
police  as  is  Wall  Street  or  the  Bourse  to  the 
moneyed  man,  or  Paternoster  Row  to  the 
Trade.  Such  districts  have  a  news,  a  com- 
mon parlance  and  a  public  opinion  of  their 
own.  Evil  not  only  lives  but  breeds.  The 
morals  of  such  groups  are  bad.  Low  rival- 
ries, envies,  spites,  grudgings,  even  of  suf- 
ferer against  sufferer,  are  familiar  to  all 
visitants  in  such  quarters.  Low  finesse, 
simulated  sorrow,  mumping  applications  for 
aid  in  several  directions  at  once,  hatred  of 
labour,  drinking,  play,  false  witness,  fraud, 
are  forms  of  evil  which  in  their  turn  act 
the  part  sometimes  of  cause  and  sometimes 
of  effect.  Every  mode  of  insincerity,  obli- 
quity in  purpose,  pretence  or  dishonesty, 
tends  to  dissociate  well-doing  from  labour. 
Whatever  tends  to  this  is  a  curse,  and  un- 
less checked  insures  an  idle  and  profligate 
class.  Society  at  large  is  responsible  for 
the  unutterable  miseries  of  the  dangerous 


284        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE    POOR. 

classes,  which  operate  as  a  perpetual  irritant 
of  the  evil  nature.  Yet  the  worst  sign  is 
the  apathy  of  the  well-doing,  who  know 
not  that  these  things  are  undermining  the 
stately  house  in  which  they  dwell. 

There  is  something  of  almost  tragic  in- 
terest in  the  strong  contrasts  of  luxury  and 
woe  in  the  same  streets :  it  is  the  old 
proximity  of  Dives  and  Lazarus.  For  the 
greatest  refinement  and  display,  and  for  the 
greatest  beggary  and  loathsomeness,  you 
may  equally  go  to  great  capitals,  London, 
Paris,  Berlin.  The  uniformity  of  the  effect 
in  cases  where  the  religious  element  is  left 
out  strikes  us  in  all  countries  and  ages,  and 
indicates  causes  deeper  than  race,  climate, 
form  of  government,  or  legislation.  Human 
misery  lays  many  of  its  burdens,  indeed,  at 
the  door  of  governments,  who,  by  absurd 
preferences,  grinding  restrictions,  class- 
legislation,  stupidity  or  perverseness  con- 
cerning schools,  bounties  on  vice,  and,  above 
all,  war,  have  made  the  poor  poorer  and 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        285 

the  vile  viler.  But  a  worse  defect  of  the 
social  fabric  is  in  the  material :  the  very 
stones  of  the  builder  are  unsound.  The 
individual  character  of  whole  classes  has 
been  degraded.  No  architectonic  skill 
which  leaves  out  religious  reformation  can 
correct  these  evils.  And  since  public  re- 
formers and  political  philanthropists  often 
concede  this,  and  bestir  themselves  in 
schools,  lyceums,  newspapers,  museums 
and  other  parts  of  intellectual  apparatus — 
to  each  and  all  of  which  we  bid  God  speed 
— it  becomes  necessary  to  add  that  it  is 
utterly  vain  to  look  for  relief  to  any  system 
of  mere  seculariiies.  If  any  one  chemical 
constituent  of  the  human  body,  suppose 
lime,  is  wanting,  we  expend  strength  vainly 
on  building  up  all  the  rest.  The  element 
which  has  dropped  out  of  the  body  politic 
is  RELIGION.  Government  and  common 
schools  may  rear  the  bony  structure  and 
lay  on  flesh  and  skin;  but  they  produce  a 
J, real,    rickety,    unstable    monster  if    they 


286        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE    POOR. 

exclude  religion.  Tlie  putrescence  of  society 
needs  the  salt  of  the  kingdom.  The  gospel 
of  fTesus  Christ,  and  nothing  else,  will  staunch 
social  wounds  and  he  for  the  healing  of  the 
nations.  And  it  is  because  religious  educa- 
tion exhibits  this  antidote  and  prophylactic 
in  the  best  way,  that  we  plead  for  it  so 
urgently  on  national  grounds. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  lamented  that  states- 
men and  legislators,  who  are  sometimes 
philanthropists,  do  not  oftener  condescend 
to  look  into  the  working  of  certain  humble 
schemes,  which  they,  from  a  distant  and 
erroneous  view,  discard  as  methodistical  or 
enthusiastic,  or  even  fanatic.  The  operation 
of  religion  in  abating  social  nuisances  is 
best  studied  on  a  small  scale ;  as,  for  in- 
stance, in  a  single  neighbourhood.  We 
should  be  willing  to  stake  the  question 
upon  a  fair  examination  of  what  has  been 
wrought  by  the  Wesleyans  in  certain  well- 
known  districts  in  England,  or  by  the  Irish 
missions  in  Connemara.     So  far  as  the  ex- 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        287 

periment  has  gone,  the  same  may  be  shown 
in,  regard  to  seamen  by  labours  under  the 
^Bethel  Flag  and  to  slaves  on  the  planta- 
tions. But  the  whole  history  of  Sunday- 
school  progress  is  an  argument  to  this  very 
point.  A  single  family — there  are  ten  thou- 
sand such — regenerated  by  God's  blessing 
on  the  word  which  it  received  from  the 
Sunday-school  would  suffice  to  demonsti^ate 
this  socializing  tendency.  Society  is  made 
up  of  such  families.  Once  introduced, 
religion  percolates  into  every  cell  of  the 
domestic  structure,  and  comes  to  tinge 
every  act,  whether  inward  or  outward. 
Let  the  number  of  such  families  only  be 
multiplied  to  a  degree  not  too  great  to  be 
supposed,  and  we  should  already  have 
turned  the  helm  of  State  away  from  one  of 
our  most  dangerous  social  reefs. 

Our  hopes  are  raised  when  we  contem- 
plate tens  of  thousands  of  children  awaiting 
the  hand  of  Christian  education.  To  pre- 
sent to  the  mind  at  a  orlance  the  social  effect 


288   SUNDAY-SCHOOLS  AND  THE  POOR. 

of  sucli  training,  conceive  twin-brothers, 
born  in  poverty  and  squalor,  to  be  sepa- 
rately brought  up,  one  in  his  native  nest  or^ 
rookery  and  the  other  under  the  formative 
lessons  of  divine  truth.  AVe  propose  to  re- 
peat this  thousands  of  times,  for  the  sake 
of  its  influence  on  society.  The  ductile 
current  of  American  youth  may  be  poured 
into  the  right  mould,  even  though  adult 
evil  be  incorrigible.  If  we  have  in  the 
slio^htest  deo^ree  succeeded  in  all  the  fore- 
going  pages,  we  need  scarcely  repeat  that 
Sunday-schools  address  themselves  to  this 
very  task  of  Christianizing  the  juvenile 
America. 

The  operation  must  be  traced  in  its  de- 
tails. l!^o  general  statements  can  lodge  its 
realities  in  the  reader's  mind.  It  may  be 
viewed  in  progress,  on  a  large  scale,  where- 
ever  a  populous  town  or  suburb  exhibits  a 
flourishing  Sunday-school  comprising  seve- 
ral hundred  children  :  there  are  many  such. 
Take  apart  this  school  and  the  population 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS  AND  THE  POOR.   289 

which  feeds  it,  by  a  partition  according  to 
classes,  language,  ages   and   families:    fol- 
low each  home ;    keep  up  the  observation 
for  several  years.     For  the  solution  of  sun- 
dry pressing  social  problems,  we   suppose 
there  could  not  be  a  more  interesting  or  a 
more  fruitful  study.     There  will  be  failures 
and  disappointments,  chiefly  from  the  stub- 
bornness of  habits  already  established  and 
the  counteracting  lessons  of  adjacent  vice; 
yet  the  average  is  always  the  same.    Society 
is  reformed  just  so  far  as  the  process  is  car- 
ried on.    Those  incidental  advantages  which 
have  been  often  mentioned  in  these  pages 
arise  in  their  due  order.     The  interest  of 
the  child  becomes  the  interest  of  the  parent. 
The  child's  book  is  read  at  home.     If  the 
affair  be  rightly  ordered,  the  worship  of  the 
child  becomes  the  worship  of  the  parent. 
It  is  no  longer  the  individual,  but  the  family, 
that  is  refreshed.     The  social  operation  has 
begun.     The  child  of  one  family  influences 
the  child  of  another  family;    and  so,  like 

25 


290        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND   THE    POOR. 

circles  in  the  water,  benefit  is  diffused. 
This  is  not  invention  ;  it  is  what  the  w^riter 
has  been  privileged  to  see  with  his  own  eyes 
under  the  labours  of  his  brethren.  There 
is  a  providential  compensation  in  the  law 
that  the  gregarious  nature  of  mankind, 
which  propagates  evil,  can  also  propagate 
good.  Hence,  the  Sunday-school,  appealing 
at  once  and  powerfully  to  every  principle 
of  fellowship  and  sympathy,  has  shown  its 
great  triumphs  amid  those  throngs  of 
population  where  vice  also  spreads  like  a 
contagion.  Always  understanding  by  the 
Sunday-school  that  entire  complex  of  books, 
visits,  prayers,  charities  and  Sabbath  mer- 
cies without  which  it  is  barren,  we  hold  it 
to  be  a  divine  gift  bestowed  on  our  age 
with  particular  reference  to  the  cankers  of 
the  social  state.  These  are  matters  which 
statistics  cannot  tabulate  and  report ;  but 
could  we  summon  as  witnesses  the  experi- 
enced veteran  teachers  of  Great  Britain  and 
America,  by  their  hundreds  of  thousands, 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        291 

the  response  of  concurrent  testimony  would 
be  overwhelming  to  disbelief.  It  would, 
indeed,  be  the  resultant  of  many  confluent 
drops ;  but  such  are  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Amazon.  From  what  we  might  learn  in  a 
single  school,  we  should  need  to  go  to  the 
immense  network  of  schools  now  reaching: 
over  all  evangelical  Christendom  and  pos- 
sessing a  capacity  for  indefinite  expansion. 
What  Dr.  Chalmers  has  called  the  ''  power 
of  littles"  would  thus  be  seen  brought  to 
bear  on  the  ancient  abuses  of  the  social 
body. 

When  we  claim  for  the  Sunday-school  a 
specific  fitness  to  reach  evils  known  to 
rankle  among  the  degraded,  we  do  so  not 
only  because  it  is  suited  to  convey  religion, 
but  because  it  has  its  peculiar  and  happy 
method  of  bringing  religion  into  contact 
with  these  masses.  There  are  bays  and 
inlets  of  humanity  into  which  our  ships-of- 
the-line  cannot  enter.  There  are  dens  of 
dark  irreligion  into  which  the  other  stated 


292        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND   THE   POOK. 

means  of  grace  do  not  penetrate.  And  if 
these  proper  effects  are  less  numerous  and 
striking  than  we  might  expect,  the  reason 
is  that  Sunday-schools  are,  after  all,  both 
fewer  and  weaker  than  they  ought  to  be. 

If,  as  our  readers  are  not  likely  to  deny, 
the  church  includes  more  than  its  clergy, 
and  if  the  charities  of  the  church  in  all  the 
amplitude  of  that  term  are  to  be  dispensed 
by  the  body  of  Christians,  every  congrega- 
tion carrying  its  entire  force  to  bear  upon 
the  evils  which  are  around  it,  then  the  Sun- 
day-school corps  comes  properly  within  this 
scope.  !N"o  single  organization  exists,  so 
widely  diffused,  embodying  such  numbers 
and  such  diversity  of  talent.  In  all  we  utter 
on  this  point  we  imply — as  in  its  proper  place 
we  have  asserted — that  such  endeavours  are 
^  approved,  guided  and  controlled  by  the  ad- 
mitted authorities  of  the  respective  reli- 
gious societies.  There  is,  therefore,  no- 
thing in  the  proposal  at  which  the  most  fas- 
tidious churchmanship  need  take  offence. 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND   THE   POOR.        293 

Even  the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy  has  in 
our  day  admitted  a  variety  of  the  Sunday- 
school  among  its  means.  Our  fear  is  not 
that  the  institution  will  become  too  power- 
ful, but  that  from  false  estimate  of  its  dig- 
nity its  working  will  in  many  cases  be 
abandoned  to  the  younger  and  less  import- 
ant members  of  churches,  instead  of  com- 
manding, as  well  it  might,  the  talents  and 
piety  of  the  most  distinguished. 

Let  the  Sunday-school  engine  be  fairly 
brought  to  bear  on  any  one  city  district, — 
we  name  the  city  as  the  more  difficult  field, 
—and  the  social  effects  will  be  soon  appa- 
rent. Even  now,  under  imperfect  methods 
and  with  insufficient  force,  the  results  are 
greater  than  we  had  a  right  to  expect  where 
all  surrounding  influences  are  adverse. 

When  we  speak  of  probable  successes, 
however,  we  presuppose  a  method  and 
thoroughness  in  attacking  the  enemy  such 
as  have  not  been  generally  exhibited.  Let 
us   consider   some   of  those   things  which 

26* 


294        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR. 

seem  to  be  indispensable  to  the  complete 
organization  of  Sunday-school  labour  in  a 
city  district.  And  here  we  freely  acknow- 
ledge that,  in  the  existing  mutual  relations 
of  religious  bodies,  we  do  not  perceive  how 
every  particular  of  the  plan  can  be  realized. 
It  will  be  so  much  clear  gain  if  by  any 
Christian  compromise  the  scheme  shall  be- 
come practical  even  by  approximation. 

1.  It  is  above  all  things  necessary  that 
the  field  should  be  comprehensively  and  ex- 
actly surveyed.  The  district  to  be  worked 
should  have  its  precise  topographical  de- 
marcation by  metes  and  bounds,  with  no 
vague  margin  of  debatable  land. 

2.  The  field  thus  ascertained  and  limited 
should  be  divided  and  subdivided  into  por- 
tions small  enough  to  be  easily  manageable. 

3.  Besides  the  general  oversight  and  the 
oversight  of  larger  divisions,  it  is  expedient 
to  have  an  oversight  of  each  smaller  divi- 
sion. Such  division  should  be  allotted  to 
some  individual  visitor  or  teacher.     Every 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        296 

part  of  this  very  limited  canton  should  be 
under  his  charge  and  inspection. 

Confining  ourselves  to  the  smallest  sec- 
tion, for  the  multiplication  of  this  unit  pro- 
duces the  whole,  we  observe  this  series  of 
houses  to  be  regularly  and  frequently  visited, 
at  least  once  a  week.  These  visits,  so  far 
as  courtesy  and  kindness  allow,  should  ex- 
tend not  only  to  every  tenement,  but  to 
every  family  or  solitary  resident.  Such 
minute  division  and  such  frequent  visita- 
tion we  hold  to  be  the  great  pecuharities 
of  the  simple  scheme  which  is  substan- 
tially carried  out  already  in  many  places. 

4.  Thus  far  we  shall  have  provided  for 
giving  that  local  and  territorial  character 
to  the  work  on  which  Dr.  Chalmers  lays 
such  just  stress.  The  routine  visits  to  this 
restricted  canton  or  "beat"  reveal  the  ma- 
terial to  be  wrought.  Here  lies  the  ore  to 
be  extracted.  These  are  the  children  to  be 
rescued.  The  very  circumscription  of  the 
labour  renders  it  feasible,  as  in  a  section  of 


296        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE    POOR. 

railway  embankment  or  excavation.  This 
domiciliary  inquest  discloses  the  evil  which 
exists  and  suggests  the  good  which  may 
ensue.  The  process  must  be  carried  to  ab- 
solute exhaustion ;  that  is,  nothing  must  be 
left  unquestioned.  Many  will  refuse,  and 
some  will  resist ;  but  the  persistency  of  in- 
quiring love  will  go  to  the  root  of  the 
matter  and  determinately  comprehend  its 
own  field 

5.  ^N'or  is  this  perambulation  of  the 
ground  to  cease  after  one  or  a  few  cir- 
cuits. To  the  complete  working  of  Sun- 
day-schools in  this  their  missionary  func- 
tion it  is  necessary  that  Christian  visits  at 
stated  periods  should  be  constantly  kept 
up  as  a  regular  part  of  the  system.  Half 
our  gains  are  eventually  lost  from  not  be- 
ing looked  after.  Many  a  household  would 
have  been  saved  from  ruin  if  it  had  been 
sought  out  and  gently  cherished  once  a 
week,  i^othing  more  surely  maintains  the 
good -wall  of  those  who  feel  themselves  to 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND   THE    POOR.        297 

be  poor  and  sometimes  suspect  themselves 
to  be  despised.  "There  is  one  lesson,"  says 
our  greatest  authority  on  this  subject,  Chal- 
mers, "  that  we  need  not  teach,  for  ex- 
perience has  already  taught  it;  and  that 
is,  the  kindly  influence  which  the  mere 
presence  of  a  human  being  has  u^Don  his 
fellows.  Let  the  attention  bestowed  upon 
another  be  the  genuine  emanation  of  good- 
will, and  there  is  only  one  thing  more  to 
make  it  irresistible.  The  readiest  way  of 
finding  access  to  a  man's  heart  is  to  go 
into  his  house,  and  there  to  perform  the 
deed  of  kindness,  or  to  acquit  ourselves  of 
the  wonted  and  looked-for  acknowledg- 
ment. By  putting  ourselves  under  the 
roof  of  a  poor  neighbour,  Ave  in  a  manner 
put  ourselves  under  his  protection,  we  ren- 
der him  for  the  time  our  superior,  we  throw 
our  reception  on  his  generosity;  and  we 
may  be  assured  that  it  is  a  confidence 
which  will  almost  never  fail  us.  If  Chris- 
tianity  be  the  errand  on  which  the  move- 


298        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND   THE    POOR. 

ment  is  made,  it  will  open  the  door  of  every 
family ;  and  even  the  profane  and  profligate 
will  come  to  recognise  the  worth  of  that 
principle  which  prompts  the  unwearied  as- 
siduity of  such  services."* 

6.  That  this  minute,  laborious  and  fre- 
quent visitation  of  a  vicinage,  in  town  or 
country,  may  turn  to  the  best  advantage 
and  disclose  its  ripest  fruits,  it  must  extend 
itself  much  beyond  any  particular  class  of 
boys  or  girls  which  occupies  a  form  in  the 
school.  A  good  shepherd  cares  also  for 
lambs  which  are  out  of  the  fold.  The  eye 
of  benignant  forecast  must  fix  itself  on  those 
urchins  who  are  yet  too  small,  or  whose 
parents  are  yet  unpersuaded.  Charity  must 
have  respect  to  such  as  persistently  reject 
its  advances.  Constant  dropping  wears 
away  rock.  "A  soft  answer  breaketh  the 
bone."      "Continual  coming"  wearies  out 


*  The  Christian  and  Civic  Economy  of  Large  Towns.     By 
Dr.  Chalmers,  vol.  i.  p.  29  :  Glasgow. 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE    POOR.        299 

perverseness  itself.  The  twentieth  visit 
may  secure  him  who  has  been  stubborn 
under  the  nineteen.  Love  is  power.  Bad 
boys,  whom  it  has  been  a  duty  to  exclude 
from  the  schools,  are  by  no  means  excluded 
from  watch,  care,  generous  treatment  and 
the  evangelism  of  the  wayside  and  home. 
And,  what  is  equally  important,  the  former 
pupils,  now  fledged  and  flown  out  of  the 
nest,  may,  under  such  a  subdivision  of 
labour  and  by  a  little  sacrifice  of  time  and 
feeling,  be  kept  under  an  unceasing  surveil- 
lance. The  loving  teacher  will  need  no 
special  admonitions  to  make  him  look  for 
fruit  on  the  tree  which  he  has  planted. 

7.  The  visit  of  a  judicious  and  afi:ectionate 
Sunday-school  teacher,  every  few  days,  to  a 
well-known  district,  will  command  for  him 
the  confidence  of  its  inhabitants  and  open 
doors  for  many  good  side-influences.  Hordes 
of  Arab  youth  go  to  no  day-schools.  Sun- 
day-school visitors  are  the  friends  of  general 
education,   and    constantly  replenish   theii 


300        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND   THE    POOR. 

places  of  i-nstmction.  Where  there  are 
church-schools,  they  do  the  like.  They  fall 
in  with  the  whole  enterprise  of  distributing 
Bibles  and  other  Christian  books;  and  in 
many  varieties  of  inculcation  they  act  as 
public  educators.  Gentle  lessons  to  parents 
and  elder  brothers  or  sisters,  at  such  times, 
when  prejudice  is  disarmed,  go  deep,  like 
the  rain  and  snow  that  water  the  earth; 
and  such  emollients  are  healing  to  social 
wounds. 

8.  Kelief  of  temporal  want,  especially  in 
the  case  of  the  sick  poor,  has  come  to  be 
connected  with  every  Sunday-school  ar- 
rangement. It  is  no  task  of  ours  to  discuss 
the  relations  of  this  difficult  subject  with 
either  Church  or  State.  The  misery  exists, 
and  is  revealed  to  visitors  such  as  ours.  To 
say  that  they  sometimes  relieve  it  is  only  to 
say  that  they  are  not  inhuman.  But  some 
obvious  benefits  flow  from  such  visits,  in 
respect  to  any  and  all  eleemosynary  efforts, 
whether  public  or  private.     The  evil  itself 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND    THE    POOR.        301 

is  made  known,  and  in  circumstances  fa- 
vourable to  exact  knowledge.  So  much  is 
done  towards  a  regular  and  even  tabular 
survey  of  the  disease,  sloth,  pauperism  and 
mendicity  of  a  particular  district.  Until  a 
thoroughpaced  census  of  filth  and  crime  be 
instituted  by  Government,  all  municipal 
disbursement  for  the  poor  must  be  at  im- 
mense public  loss.  The  unpaid  labours  of 
Sunday-school  missionaries  and  visitors, 
groping  their  way  through  these  habitations 
of  cruelty  and  woe,  are  pioneering  the  road 
for  the  heavier  forces  of  State  prevention 
and  supply.  The  aggregate  of  alms  dis- 
persed through  Sunday-schools  would  reach 
an  amount  that  probably  no  one  has  con- 
jectured. 

9.  For  the  sake  of  connection,  it  must  be 
repeated  here  that  the  method  of  frequent 
visitation,  in  one  and  the  same  small  canton, 
tends  directly  to  remedy  one  of  the  rankest 
maladies  of  our  time,  the  neglect  of  j^Mic 
iDorsMp  hy  the  poor.     Our  rural  neighbour- 

2G 


302        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND   THE    POOR. 

hoods  are  comparatively  uninfected,  but 
city  diseases  in  time  reach  the  country. 
Would  that  observant  Christians  in  Ame- 
rica might  learn  wisdom  from  the  ills  of 
England  and  Germany  !  All  over  the  Pro- 
testant world  the  complaint  is  that  the 
house  of  Grod  is  losing  the  respect  of  the 
masses.  America  has  not  reached  this  point, 
except  in  its  large  towns.  But  America 
should  be  on  her  guard.  We  trust  the  pic- 
ture given  of  themselves  by  some  reporters 
in  Germany  is  overdrawn.  "  In  the  country 
about  Hamburg,"  one  of  them  says,  for 
example,  "which  is  very  populous,  the 
churches,  especially  in  towns,  are  pretty 
much  empty  on  Sundays,  and  the  people 
of  Jutland,  as  is  notorious,  go  to  church 
neither  in  their  own  land  nor  when  they 
are  abroad.  The  Frisians,  on  the  west  of 
Sleswig,  make  an  honourable  exception. 
The  people  of  Holstein  go  little  to  church." 
— "And,"  it  is  added,  "the  want  of  church 
Interest  in  Jutland,  with  the  ancient  and 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        SC3 

powerful  superstitiou  which  reigns  among 
this  people,  render  more  explicable  the  bold 
advances  of  Mormonism  among  the  Jutes."* 
Tens  of  thousands  in  London  never  enter 
a  house  of  worship.  Existing  churches  in 
Philadelphia  and  ISTew  York  would  not 
suffice  to  hold  the  people.  A  class  is  rising 
and  gaining  consolidation  who  never  think 
of  the  sanctuary.  This  tendency  to  settle 
in  godless  stupor  must  be  violently  broken 
up.  The  regular  preaching  in  our  rich 
structures  has  no  immediate  bearing  on  the 
case.  Domiciliar}^  benevolence,  such  as 
shall  bring  the  entire  mass  into  the  warm 
circulation  of  Christianity  and  restore  the 
interrupted  equilibrium  and  interchange, 
offers  more  promise  than  any  means  yet 
proposed.  The  neglecter  of  the  church  has 
been  neglected  by  the  church.  He  must  be 
seen  in  his  den,  taken  by  the  hand  and  led 
to   the    place  of  prayer.      It  is  a  process 

*  Augsb.  Allg.  Ztg.,  ap.  Renter's  Repertorium^  Feb.  1856 


304        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND   THE    POOR. 

which  we  know  to  be  beautifully  exempli  - 
fied  in  numerous  churches  around  us.  And 
it  is  encouraging  to  meet  such  cordial,  rein- 
forcement as  is  afforded  by  the  following 
testimony  of  Chalmers  : — ''  It  requires  a 
much  harder  struggle  than  most  are  aware 
of,  to  prevail  on  grown-up  people,  who  never 
have  attended  church,  to  become  the  mem- 
bers either  of  a  day  or  an  evening  congrega- 
tion. But  the  compliance  which  cannot  be 
won  in  nianhood  for  attendance  on  a  church 
we  win  in  boyhood  for  attendance  on  a 
school,  and  when  the  boy  becomes  the  man 
a  second  effort  is  not  necessary.  It  were, 
in  fact,  a  far  more  congenial  transition  for 
him  to  pass  from  the  evening-school  to  the 
evening-church,  than  if  he  never  had  at- 
tended school  at  all ;  and  far  more  congenial 
for  the  member  of  an  evening  to  become 
the  member  of  a  day  congregation,  than  if, 
brought  up  in  the  utter  want  of  congrega- 
tional habits,  he  never  had  attended  either 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND   THE    POOR.        305 

the  one  or  the  other.  ""^  It  is  in  such  terms 
that  this  liberal  and  truly  great  man  predicts 
a  result  which  at  the  time  of  his  writing 
could  have  had  small  exemplification  com- 
pared with  what  strikes  the  eye  of  every 
Sunday-school  visitor  in  our  day. 

10.  On  a  retrospect  of  these  particulars, 
which,  as  competent  readers  will  have  ob- 
served, are  not  compacted  out  of  imagina- 
tion but  copied  from  reality,  we  are  pre- 
pared to  say  that  the  Sunday-school  hands 
over  to  us  a  system  of  means  already  fitted 
for  reaching  the  labyrinthine  recesses  of 
ignorance  and  irreligion  among  the  people. 
Let  such  things  as  these  take  place  with  a 
frequency  proportioned  to  the  resources  of 
evangelical  Christendom,  and  the  coming 
acre  will  receive  the  very  framework  of  so- 
ciety  altered  and  amended.  If  any  charge 
us  with  a  fond  attachment  to  Sunday-schools 
as  the  only  means,  we  repudiate  any  such 

*  Civic  Economy,  vol.  i.  p.  123. 
26* 


306        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR. 

bias  and  predilection.  Eeasons  have  indeed 
been  given  for  looking  to  this  as  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  instruments  ever  put  into 
the  hand  of  any  people.  But  on  no  single 
mode  of  transmitting  truth  would  we  ex- 
clusively lean.  It  is,  after  all,  religion — the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ — which  is  to  reform 
the  world;  or,  if  you  choose  to  take  the 
words  in  a  sound  and  catholic  sense,  it  is 
the  church.  Within  the  general  compre- 
hensive pale  of  juvenile  training  in  religion, 
we  can  afford  to  concede  the  widest  liberty 
of  detail. 

The  Christian  church,  going  forth  on  an 
exploration  of  mercy  into  streets  and  lanes 
of  the  city  and  highways  and  hedges  of  the 
country,  enlightening  the  mind  and  sooth- 
ing the  body,  binding  man  to  man  and 
closing  the  open  wounds  of  humanity,  win- 
ning the  rich  to  meekness  and  lifting  the 
poor  to  dignity,  thus  diffusing  a  bi'other- 
hood  otherwise  unknown  on  earth,  is  only 
realizing   her   great   ideal    and   acting   out 


SUNDAY-SCHOOLS    AND    THE    POOR.        307 

the  life  of  her  great  Exemplar.  She  remem- 
bers the  poor,  which  James,  Cephas  and 
John  enjoined  on  their  brother  apostle,  and 
which  Paul  "  also  was  forward  to  do."  She 
remembers  the  w^ords  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
unwritten  by  evangelists,  but  saved  for  us 
by  the  same  Paul: — "It  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive."  She  walks  among 
the  abuses  of  society  with  a  remedy  which 
reformers  have  sought  in  vain ;  for  by  con- 
ferring the  greater  gift  she  confers  the  less, 
and  by  saving  the  soul  she  blesses  the  body. 
Let  the  church,  as  the  body  of  Christ,  in- 
formed by  his  Spirit,  go  forth  thus  among 
the  nations,  and  it  is  as  though  Jesus  were 
again  treading  our  desolate  earth.  For  just 
so  "he  went  about  doing  good;"  breathing 
pardons  on  condemned  souls  while  he  gently 
hushed  the  anguish  of  crushed  bodies ;  help- 
ing the  fisherman,  teaching  the  throng,  call- 
ing the  children  to  his  blessed  arms,  ex- 
plaining the  Bible-lesson,  setting  the  pat- 
tern of  prayer;  doing  acts  of  mercy  on  the 


308        SUNDAY-SCHOOLS   AND   THE    POOR. 

Sabbathj  promoting  the  hosannas  of  babes 
and  sucklings,  in  both  cases  offending 
Scribes  and  Pharisees ;  crossing  the  thresh- 
old of  fever,  paralysis  and  lunacy  ;  stopping 
with  kindly  force  the  bier  of  the  widow's 
son ;  exhorting  and  inviting  while  he  healed, 
and,  as  he  gave  truth,  giving  life,  health  and 
salvation.  Ye  know  the  story.  "Ye  know 
the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that, 
though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  he 
became  poor,  that  ye  through  his  poverty 
might  be  rich."  And  ye  know  how,  at 
humble,  at  infinite  distance,  the  Sunday- 
school — as  a  mode  of  Christian  education 
and  mercy — walks  in  the  same  steps  and 
breathes  the  same  spirit. 


CHAPTEE  X. 

THE   teacher's   INCITEMENT. 

There  hangs  before  me  a  photograph  of 
the  Arch  of  Titus,  famous  and  venerable  as 
presenting  among  the  processional  spoils 
our  only  probable  portraiture  of  the  Golden 
Candlestick.  It  reminds  me  of  a  saying  of 
this  Roman  emperor  which  has  become  pro- 
verbial. On  a  certain  evening,  when  he 
looked  back  over  the  hours,  he  remembered 
no  good  action,  and  exclaimed,  ''I  have 
LOST  A  day!"  or  more  briefly  in  Latin,  per- 
didi  diem.  According  to  some  reports,  it 
was  the  absence  of  any  beneficent  action  that 
he  regretted ;  and  thus  the  saying  has  been 
understood  by  most. 

This  was  certainly  a  beautiful  trait  in  a 
heathen,  a  Roman  emperor,  and  one  whom 

309 


310  THE   teacher's   INCITEMENT. 

we  have  to  compare  Tvith  bloody  tyrants, 
such  as  preceded  and  followed  him.  But 
perhaps  too  much  has  been  made  of  the 
benevolence  of  Titus ;  and  perhaps  we  have 
allowed  a  sentence,  happily  worded  and 
proceeding  from  one  in  imperial  purple, 
to  eclipse  the  greater  and  more  difiused 
excellencies  which  the  Christian  religion 
has  introduced. 

It  was  something,  indeed^  for  a  sovereign 
of  absolute  power,  innumerable  subjects  and 
boundless  means,  to  pass  twelve  hours  with- 
out one  act  of  beneficence.  We  naturally 
inquire  why  he  might  not  have  made  ten 
thousand  persons  happy:  it  would  have 
taken  less  than  a  day.  On  the  other  hand, 
one  act  of  clemency,  charity,  or  compassion, 
has  its  glory,  even  though  the  only  one  in 
the  aforesaid  term.  A  day  thus  signalized 
is  brighter  than  certain  days  of  Xero  and 
Domitian.  And  in  this  view  Titus  Yespa- 
sianus  justly  lamented  the  day  as  lost 
which   could  not   show  this  single  bright 


THE   teacher's   INCITEMENT.  311 

redeeming  spot.  It  was  not  a  clay,  cretd 
notandus,  to  be  "marked  with  a  white 
stone." 

In  the  dominions  of  the  emperor  there 
was,  at  that  very  time,  a  class  of  people 
not  clad  in  purple  or  fine  linen,  and  often 
confounded  with  the  despised  Jews.  They 
were  widely  spread,  and  had  rules  touching 
this  very  point.  They  have  not  yet  ceased 
to  exist  nor  to  practise  according  to  these 
rules.  They  used  to  exhort  one  another 
thus : — "  To  do  good  and  to  communicate, 
forget  not."  They  were,  indeed,  a  peculiar 
people,  "zealous  of  good  works."  They 
went  so  far  as  to  adopt  the  maxim,  "All 
things  whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should 
do  to  you,  da  ye  even  so  to  them." 

Let  us  do  justice  to  Titus,  the  "delight 
of  human  kind."*  He  was  mild  and  com- 
paratively forbearing  in  Judea,  and  seemed 
to  use  harshness  with  reluctance.  He  offered 


'Amor  et  deliciae  humani  generis."   Suetonius,  Titus,  ch.  i. 


312         THE  teachee's  incitement. 

terms  to  the  resisting  Jews  rather  than  pol- 
lute their  temple,  and  looked  with  admira- 
tion and  pity  on  the  holy  pile  when  it  was 
stormed  hy  his  batteries  and  burning  up. 
He  allowed  Josephus  to  save  the  sacred 
books  from  that  conflagration.  Hence  it 
is  that  we  look  at  the  Arch  of  Titus,  at 
Eome,  with  a  measure  of  complacency. 
But  we  are  not  willing  to  take  the  clement 
Titus  for  our  model  as  to  spending  a  day. 

To  pass  a  whole  day  without  an  endea- 
vour to  make  any  one  happier,  is  indeed  to 
lose  a  day ;  it  is  dreadful,  it  is  heathenish ; 
and  a  heathen  emperor  may  rebuke  us. 
Yet  the  Christian  standard  is  higher  than 
this ;  and  it  were  a  meagre  account  of  a 
Christian  day  to  reckon  its  acts  of  benefi- 
cence at  a  unit.  God  has  given  a  wider 
rule,  and  providence  opens  more  numerous 
opportunities.  If  good  acts  were  confined 
to  what  in  the  w^orld's  esteem  are  great 
acts,  only  a  few  could  do  them,  and  only 
once  in  a  while.     But  the  business  which 


THE    teacher's    INCITEMENT.  313 

Mrs.  Hannah  More  was  said  to  take  for  her 
life's  task— /a?re  des  heiireux,  to  make  others 
liappy — is  a  business  at  which  every  man, 
woman  and  child  may  work,  in  every  place, 
every  day,  and  every  hour  of  the  day.  A 
stonecutter  or  a  joiner  might  say  with  truth 
of  a  given  day,  "I  have  lost  it,  for  I  have 
let  it  go  without  one  stroke  of  my  chisel ;" 
but  we  would  not  frame  a  rule  conversely, 
and  ordain  one  stroke  of  the  chisel  as  a 
noticeable  afi'air. 

We  err  by  omitting  cheap  acts  of  benefi- 
cence in  our  daily  walk  and  among  our 
hourly  companionship.  The  web  of  a  mer- 
ciful life  is  made  up  of  these  slender  threads. 
This  is  a  secret  oftener  learnt  by  woman 
than  by  man. 

The  husband  ia  used  to  a  wholesale  busi- 
ness. By  the  utterance  of  a  few  syllables 
on  'Change  he  finds  himself  richer  by  thou- 
sands. He  writes  ten  letters  on  a  slip  of 
paper,  and  goes  home  heavier  by  a  complete 
fortune.     He  has  done  a  day's  work.     He 


27 


314         THE  teacher's  incitement. 

can  make  a  long  inten^al.  So  in  his  chari- 
ties ;  he  takes  a  tithe  of  the  tithe  of  half 
his  nett  income  and  builds  an  orphan-house. 
His  soul  is  refreshed ;  he  has  done  a  great 
work. 

The  wife  sits  at  home.  She  is  employed 
in  a  series  of  continually-repeated  acts,  any 
one  of  which  is  almost  inappreciable.  Her 
steps  are  many,  up  and  down  flights  of 
stairs.  Her  sphere  of  housewifery  com- 
prises multiform  particulars.  She  layeth 
her  hand  to  the  spindle,  and  her  hands  hold 
the  distaff.  Who  can  keep  the  tally  of  all 
those  quick  passes  of  her  nimble  needle? 
Her  aggregate  of  human  activity  is  the  sum 
of  small  increments.  She  acquires  a  habit 
of  thinking  that  innumerable  littles  will  in 
time  amount  to  something  great.  She  ge- 
neralizes her  law  and  gives  it  a  moral  turn, 
holding  that  a  thousand  very  minute  kind- 
nesses go  for  something  in  the  sum  total  of 
benefaction.  If  she  cannot  rear  an  asylum, 
she    can    wii»e    away   a   tear.     If   her   lord 


THE    teacher's    INCITEMENT.  315 

comes  home  to  dinner,  weary  and  pettish, 
after  some  exhausting  deed  of  love,  she  can 
bear  his  glance  with  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit, 
which  he  will  remember  by-and-by.  "In 
her  tongue  is  the  law  of  kindness."  Great 
men  may  learn  philosophy  from  good  wo-\ 
men.  Our  days  would  be  sad,  indeed,  if 
every  one  w^as  lost  which  did  not  contain 
some  great  signal  action,  fit  to  be  written 
down  in  chronicles,  or  honoured  by  a  pre- 
sentation of  plate  with  letters  and  dinner- 
speeches.  It  is  a  remarkable  point  in  the 
awards  of  the  judgment-day,  that  those  who 
are  to  enter  into  the  joy  of  their  Lord  seem 
never  to  have  kept  any  diary  of  their  good 
works,  or  digested  any  statistical  table  of 
their  visits,  or  held  any  anniversaries  where- 
on to  enumerate  their  words  of  mercy. 
"Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  an  hungered  or 
athirst?"  Yet  they  had  not  lost  their  da^-s. 
God  remembers  what  they  forget,  even  to 
the  minutest  good  deed. 


316         THE  teacher's  incitement. 

"  'Tis  a  little  thing 
To  give  a  cup  of  water ;  yet  its  draught 
Of  cool  refreshment,  drain'd  by  fever'd  lips, 
May  give  a  shock  of  pleasure  to  the  frame 
More  exquisite  than  when  nectarean  juice 
Renews  the  life  of  joy  in  happiest  hours. 
It  is  a  little  thing  to  speak  a  phrase 
Of  common  comfort  which  by  daily  use 
Has  almost  lost  its  sense  ;  yet  on  the  ear 
Of  him  who  thought  to  die  unmourn'd  'twill  fall 
Like  choicest  music." 

Though  external  beneficence,  or  what  is 
called  charity,  is  not  the  whole  duty  of  man, 
— a  truth  to  he  maintained  with  constancy 
in  our  busy,  boastful,  external  age, — it  is 
still  true  that  our  Christianity  must  be  con- 
tinually transpiring  in  deeds,  words,  and, 
what  is  often  more  precious,  looks  of  love, 
as  the  aroma  of  the  flower-bed  fills  the  air 
at  all  hours.  And  sincere  Christianity  is 
perpetually  showing  its  inward  virtue  in 
this  breathing  out  of  love.  A  child  of  grace 
cannot  lie  on  a  bed  of  illness,  in  the  most 
retired  chamber  of  the  house,  without  send- 
ing forth  a  secret  efficacy  towards  the  real 


THE   teacher's    INCITEMENT.  317 

happiness  of  fellow-creatures.  Humble,  pa- 
tient, self-distrusting  sufferer  !  Thy  day  is 
not  lost!  Those  wishes  which  lack  out- 
ward instruments  break  forth  with  wings 
of  prayer,  fly  up  heavenward  and  command 
showers  of  blessing.  Those  touching  looks 
of  sympathy  and  pity  send  a  thrill  of  elec- 
tric influence,  invisible  to  thee,  but  often 
mighty  through  God  to  lessen  grief,  and, 
what  is  better,  to  increase  piety.  Thy  day 
is  not  lost  if  it  is  pervaded  with  holy  love. 

But  what  if  the  day  be  the  chief  of  days, 
the  day  of  the  Lord  ?  And  what  if  your  cares 
are  upon  the  lambs  of  the  Lord's  pasture? 
Do  you  not  find  in  this  a  new  motive  for 
throwing  off  weariness  and  devoting  your- 
self hopefully  to  the  toil  ?  There  is  such 
weakness  in  human  nature  that  our  most 
delightful  duties  become  a  burden,  except  so 
far  as  we  receive  continual  supplies  of  grace 
to  quicken  and  refresh  us.  ''  Be  not  weary 
in  well-doing,  for  in  due  season  ye  shall  reap 
if  ye  faint  not"    Exhortations  like  this  are 

27* 


OF    THE 

G'NTVKPRITT 


818         THE  teacher's  incitement. 

used  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  prevent  our  sink- 
ing. They  operate  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
ory  of  the  master  to  his  flagging  workmen, 
or  the  inspiring  voice  of  the  commander  to 
his  fainting  soldiers.  We  need  to  be  perpe- 
tually reminded  of  the  eye  that  superintends 
our  labour,  and  the  prize  which  is  hung  out 
at  the  end  of  the  course;  and  blessed  is 
that  servant  who  does  not  every  day  of  his 
life  find  cause  to  stir  himself  up  to  new  self- 
denials  and  exertions.  K  all  the  Christian 
host  had  been  fully  engaged  from  the  begin- 
ning, the  conquest  of  the  world  would  have 
been  achieved  before  this  time ;  but  many 
of  us  have  been  weak  and  pusillanimous 
soldiers,  and  all  of  ns  require  to  hearken 
for  the  stimulus  of  the  Captain's  voice. 
He  greatly  errs  who  enters  the  Christian 
course  as  a  career  of  ease,  or  expects  a  bed 
of  roses.  From  beginning  to  end  it  is 
against  the  stream.  It  is  against  the  world. 
It  is  against  the  devil  It  is  against  ourselves. 
It  is  a  life  of  labour  within  and  mthout, 


THE    teacher's    INCITEMENT.  319 

and  of  warfare  with  terrible  foes.  Situa- 
tions may  vary,  and  thus  induce  variety  of 
duties;  but  there  is  no  Christian  who  has 
not  something  to  do  for  Christ,  the  doing 
of  which  will  task  his  powers,  try  his  tem- 
per, drain  his  natural  fund  well  nigh  to  ex- 
haustion, and  make  the  fainting  nature 
plead  for  rest.  Hence,  it  is  all-important  to 
be  saying  to  ourselves  every  day  that  this  is 
not  our  rest,  that  the  rest  remaineth  for  us, 
and  that  "there  will  be  rest  enough  in 
heaven." 

Half  our  troubles  and  half  our  faults 
arise  from  our  forgetting  that  we  are  called 
to  a  life  against  nature.  We  naturally  gra- 
vitate towards  quietude  and  inaction.  There 
is  something  sweet  in  lying  still,  especially 
after  some  little  pretence  of  labour.  We 
have  been  from  our  infancy  forming  a  habit 
of  doing  just  what  suited  us.  This  habit 
has  grown  mighty,  if  not  inveterate.  The 
first  prompting  always  is  to  please  ourselves. 
Even  though  in  the  end  we  shake  this  off, 


320         THE  tea'cher's  ixcitement. 

the  first  suggestion  is,  Take  thine  ease.  In 
many  cases  it  is  enough  to  keep  us  back 
from  a  duty  that  it  is  hard,  or  that  it  is 
vexatious,  or  that  it  brings  annoyances  or 
dangers;  we  turn  our  eyes  from  it  and 
leave  it  to  others.  Particularlv,  if  we  have 
wrought  a  little  and  feel  an  incipient  fa- 
tigue, we  are  easily  persuaded  to  give  over, 
and  thus  sometimes  our  best  years  of  ser- 
vice show  only  a  series  of  violent,  spasmo- 
dic efforts,  with  long  intervals  of  rest.  The 
law  of  carnal  nature  is  to  i^hase  ourselves. 
We  see  that  our  children  consider  it  a  para- 
dise to  do  as  they  like.  Many  persons  choose 
religion  itself  altogether  for  the  quiet  and 
ease  which  it  gives.  And  many  professors 
devote  themselves  only  to  that  class  of  du- 
ties which  they  find  agreeable.  But  this 
is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  example  of 
our  Divine  Redeemer.  Hear  the  aro:ument 
of  the  apostle,  (Rom.  xv.  1-3,)  "  We  then 
that  are  strong  ought  to  bear  the  infirmities 
of  the  weak,  and  not  to  please  ourselves. 


THE  teacher's  ixcitement.         321 

Let  every  one  of  us  please  his  neighbour 
for  his  good  to  edification.  For  even  Christ 
pleased  not  himself;  but,  as  it  is  written, 
The  reproaches  of  them  that  reproached 
thee  fell  on  me."  If  our  adorable  Head  so 
far  rejected  his  own  pleasure  as  to  submit 
willingly  to  reproach  and  insult,  and  if  his 
whole  life  was  one  bearing  of  the  cross, 
surely  w^e  ought  to  make  it  the  law  of  our 
existence  here  to  bear  the  yoke  which  he 
lays  upon  us.  N'ature  will  faint,  it  is  true ; 
but  nature  is  not  to  be  our  rule.  The  flesh 
will  grow  weary ;  but  we  are  not  servants  of 
the  flesh.  The  question,  every  morning, 
ought  to  be,  not  "How  can  I  have  most 
pleasure  this  day?"  but  "How  can  I  accom- 
plish most  for  Christ?"  Who  knows  but 
the  way  of  doing  that  may  be  a  way  of 
painstaking  and  trial?  Mountains  are  not 
ascended,  even  in  the  natural  world,  with- 
out many  a  panting  efibrt  and  many  a  mo- 
ment of  weakness ;  but  no  earthly  moun- 
tains are  so  difficult  as  those  we  have  to  tra- 


322         THE  teacher's  incitement. 

verse  in  our  spiritual  march.  I  am  deeply 
persuaded — I  wish  I  could  say  it  with  pro- 
per emphasis — that  this  single  passion  for 
ease,  this  disgust  at  the  cross,  is  one  chief 
cause  of  our  small  success.  We  are  so 
ready  to  ground  our  arms  at  the  first  sum- 
mons, to  go  into  panic  at  the  first  sight  of 
an  enemy,  or  to  lie  down  and  sleep  when 
we  should  be  marching  and  contending, 
that  at  length  we  come  to  be  satisfied  with 
a  Christianity  so  nerveless  and  effeminate 
that  early  disciples  would  never  have  re- 
cognised it.  But  let  me  not  speak  of  those 
only  who  make  no  endeavours  and  never 
enter  the  lists.  There  are  some  who  hegiii, 
but  do  not  continue ;  and  some  who  are 
even  noio  icorking,  but  are  growing  feeble, 
and  are  half  persuaded  to  desist.  To  all 
such  the  call  is, Watch.  Stand  to  your  arms. 
Be  instant,  in  season,  out  of  season.  Put 
on  the  whole  armour.  Give  no  place  to  the 
devil.  Look  not  back  from  the  plough. 
Remember  Lot's  wife  I    You  are  labouring: 


THE    teacher's    INCITEMENT.  328 

jou  do  well ;  but  be  assured  Satan  will  stop 
that  labour  if  he  can.  He  will  persuade 
you  that  it  is  time  for  repose,  that  personal 
comfort  should  be  taken  more  into  calcula- 
tion, that  other  things  besides  religious  ser- 
vice demand  your  attention,  and  that  per- 
haps you  have  already  pressed  the  weary 
sinew  to  extremity.  Hearken  to  no  such 
sirens,  as  they  beset  your  voyage.  Close 
the  ear.  "  The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day 
is  at  hand.  Know  ye  not  that  they  which 
run  in  a  race  run  all,  but  one  receiveth  the 
prize  ?  So  run  that  ye  may  obtain.  And 
every  man  that  striveth  for  the  mastery  is 
temperate  in  all  things.  'Now  they  do  it  to 
obtain  a  corruptible  crown,  but  we  an  in- 
corruptible." The  work  in  which  your 
Christian  powers  are  laid  out  is  denominated 
well-doing.  It  is  a  struggle  and  a  cross- 
bearing  to  which  your  life,  with  all  its 
powers,  might  well  be  given.  It  is  nothing 
less  th.£in  pleasing  God,  living  for  him,  making 
sacrifice  of  all  to  his  service.     Shrink  nof 


8:^4         THE  teacher's  incitement. 

when  thus  called.  Faint  not.  Though  a 
thousand  times  tempted  to  loosen  the  tense 
fibre  and  offer  rest  to  the  overtasked  mus- 
cle, oh,  relax  not !  In  well-doing  there  must 
always  be  glory  and  reward.  It  is  union  of 
heart  and  work  with  all  saints  and  all  holy 
angels ;  it  is  union  with  God  and  Christ. 

There  is  much  in  the  work  to  produce 
weariness ;  but  God  forbids  it,  and  the  hope- 
fulness of  the  effort  forbids  it.  Your  other 
labours,  for  daily  bread  or  for  accumula- 
tion, weary  you  many  a  time,  and  give  you 
evenings  of  exhaustion,  and  days  of  paleness 
and  decay;  and  all  for  what?  Often  for 
absolute  disappointment  and  downfall; 
always  for  a  sense  of  unsatisfactoriness  and 
earthliness ;  sounding  those  words  in  your 
shops  and  offices,  your  laboratories  and 
ships,  "Wherefore  do  ye  spend  .  .  .  your 
labour  for  that  which  satisfieth  not  ?" 

Weariness,  perpetual  loeariness,  and  yet  the 
mammon-slave  still  bows  to  his  master  and 
still  pays  his  sweat  and  life  for  a  disappoint- 


THE    teacher's    INCITEMENT.  325 

ment !  He  is  now  o;rown  oTav  and  wrinkled. 
Xo  diligence  of  artful  dress  can  hide  the  loath- 
some secret;  no  affected  alertness  can  hold 
up  long.  Life  is  a  weariness.  Though  eveiy 
vessel  he  touched  should  be  gold,  though 
the  delicacies  of  all  climes  were  at  his 
table,  wdierein  is  he  better  than  the  beggar 
at  his  gate?  And,  after  all,  how  tremendous 
the  revelation,  when  he  shall  hear  the  voice, 
where  repentance  comes  too  late,  "  Son, 
remember  that  thou  in  thy  lifetime  re- 
ceivedst  thy  good  things,  and  Lazarus  evil 
things ;  but  now  he  is  comforted,  and  thou 
art  tormented."  Your  worldly  labours  of 
the  week,  however  unblamable,  can  carry 
no  fruit  into  heaven.  Xot  one  penny  of 
your  gains  can  you  ferry  over  the  stream  of 
death.  Whereas,  your  labours  in  the  cause 
of  Christ  are  all  to  reappear  in  that  day. 
The  only  rewards  vou  can  carrv  alons;  with 
you  are  these.  The  souls  you  may  convert 
from  the  error  of  their  ways  and  save  from 

death  shall  be  with  vou  in  heaven  and  to 

«y 

28 


326         THE  teacher's  ixcitemext. 

all  eternity.    This  is  good  against  weariness 
and  fainting  ;  prospect  of  certain  reaping  in 
due  time ;    and  it  is  good  and  seasonable 
with  regard  to  the  particular  service  which 
engages  our  present  attention.     I  have  ad- 
mitted that  it  has  much  in  it  to  make  one 
weary.     It  involves  labour  of  some  inten- 
sity  and   continued  for    many  years.      It 
lacks  those  excitements  which  both  stimu- 
late and    sustain    in   many  other  fields  of 
duty.     It  has  no  conspicuous  dignities  or 
eclat.     And  its  rewards  are  not  immediate, 
but    "in   due  time."     Yet  faint  not;    but 
look  boldly  at  the  duty  enjoined  on  us  all 
in  reference  to  this  department  of  Chris- 
tian  activity.      Let   none   exempt  himself. 
^^e    all    have    a    responsibility   in    regard 
to  the  Christian  training  of  the   existing  race 
of  children.     It   is   to   make   my  little  en- 
deavour to  stir  up  all  to  this,  that  I  have 
now  asked   your  attention.      The   general 
topic  has  been   set  before  you    again   and 
again.  It  is  to  educate  the  children  of  America. 


THE    teacher's   INCITEMENT.  327 

It  is  to  do  as  mucli  as  in  us  lies  to  make 
them  true  Christians.  It  is  to  pronounce 
our  benediction  on  the  seed-time  of  our 
land.  It  is  to  Christianize  America  in  the 
bud ;  to  get  the  start  of  error,  infidelity, 
socialism,  anti-marriage,  anti-property,  anti- 
legal  fanaticism,  anti-Sabbath  and  anti- 
Christ.  It  is  to  preach  the  gospel,  by  a 
blessed  anticipation,  to  infancy  and  youth, 
and  (God  helping  us)  to  secure  for  the  next 
generation,  in  city  and  country,  true  Chris- 
tian knowledge  and  holy  principle.  All 
this,  and  more  than  I  know  how  to  express 
in  this,  we  mean  by  religious  education.  To 
labour  in  this,  even  to  weariness,  even  to 
pain,  even  to  old  age,  even  to  death,  is  just 
what  one  might  expect  of  Christianity  in 
earnest.  But  ah  !  what  puny  soldiers  do  we 
prove  ourselves !  How  ready  to  give  out 
before  half  a  campaign  !  What  lions  do  we 
see  in  the  way !  What  faintings  do  we  feel 
within  !  What  weariness  causes  our  knees 
to  quake  and   our   hands  to  hang  down ! 


328         THE  teacher's  incitement. 

What  numbers  go  back  after  a  little  trial 
of  the  service,  till  the  returning  column  of 
Sunday-school  teachers  and  labourers  is 
almost    as     numerous    as    the    advancins: 


& 


army  ! 

Let  us  look  at  the  duty  which  invites  us. 
The  duty  is  that  of  educating  the  existing 
youth  in  Christianity.  (1)  It  lies  obviously 
on  parents  ;  and  this  is  only  mentioned  here 
because  (all-important  though  it  be)  it  has 
been,  and  must  again  be,  separately  urged. 
'^o  Sunday-school  arrangements  ever  should, 
or  ever  did,  keep  any  well-disposed  Chris- 
tian parent  from  training  his  own  children. 
(2)  The  duty  lies  on  professional  teachers. 
They  are  bound  to  use  their  place  and  in- 
fluence to  teach  for  Christ ;  to  do  all  that  is 
possible,  that  every  pupil  may  learn  the  way 
of  salvation,  may  be  acquainted  with  the 
Scriptures  and  may  escape  the  wrath  to 
come.  'Next  to  ministers  of  the  gospel,  and 
in  close  proximity  to  them,  are  the  in 
structors  of  youth.     The  almost  unbounded 


THE   teacher's    INCITEMENT.  329 

influence  which  they  possess,  in  shaping  the 
course,  forming   the    habits  and  colouring 
the  opinions  of  the  children  under  their 
care,  has  made  them  instrumental  of  more 
good  and  more  evil — of  more  sound  con- 
versions and  more  skepticism  and  scoffing 
— of   more   courage   in   upholding   justice 
and  holiness,  and  more  licentious  obstinacy 
and  vice,  than  any  laymen  on   earth.     In 
many  instances  their  faithful  endeavours  for 
a  course  of  years  have  given  them  a  claim 
to  every  thing  belonging  to  the  ministry, 
except  the  title  and  investiture.      Let   us 
earnestly  pray  for  Christian  teachers ;    and 
let  us  see  to  it,  in  the  sight  of  God,  that 
our  children  have  such !     3.  The  duty  lies 
on  the  young  of  both  sexes  in  every  commu- 
nity, and  particularly  in  every  congregation. 
Primarily  on  those  who  entertain  the  confi- 
dence that  they  are  members  of  Christ,  but 
likewise  on  those  who  have  been  instructed 
in  the  ways  of  Grod,  and  have  been  conse- 
crated by  Christian  love  and  faithfulness  to 

28* 


330         THE  teacher's  incitement. 

the  service  of  Christ.  Sunday-schools  afford 
an  opportunity  for  every  variety  of  talent  and 
for  exercising  the  gifts  of  every  one,  male 
and  female,  who  is  instructed  and  is  willing 
to  instruct  others.  If  it  were  the  point  in 
hand,  I  could  largely  show  the  advantage 
of  such  employment  to  the  yoang  persons 
so  engaged;  but  we  are  now  considering 
the  duty.  There  ought  to  be  no  lack  of  Sun- 
day-school teachers  in  a  large  congregation. 
It  is  a  stigma  on  our  Christianity  that  there 
ever  should  be.  Even  if  all  existing  schools 
were  supplied,  we  have  persons  enough  in 
our  communions  for  as  many  more;  and 
there  is  no  reason  (but  our  own  sloth,  selfish- 
ness, and  disposition  to  wait  forever  for 
others  to  begin)  why  as  many  more  should 
not  be  founded.  It  is  a  duty  especially  laid 
upon  young  clturch-memhers.  They  have 
lately  praised  God  for  their  salvation  :  who 
ought  to  be  more  full  of  eagerness  to  work 
in  his  cause  ?  and  what  work  can  be  named 
at  once  so  promising,  so  simple  and  so  ac- 


THE  teacher's  ixcitemext.         331 

cessible?  I  have  carefully  observed  Sun- 
day-schools for  more  than  thirty  years:  I 
never  knew  any  one  class  of  persons  of 
whom  so  many  became  true  Christians  as 
Sunday-school  teachers.  I  never  knew  any 
great  ingathering  to  the  churches  in  which 
a  striking  proportion  was  not  of  Sunday- 
school  teachers.  I  seldom  knew  any  per- 
sons consent  to  act  long  and  faithfully  in 
this  capacity,  without  manifesting,  sooner 
or  later,  a  saving  interest  in  the  truth.  The 
young  professor  who  begins  early,  works 
earnestly  and  continues  long,  effects,  upon 
the  successive  classes  that  come  under  his 
or  her  care,  changes  which  are  of  incalcu- 
lable benefit  to  the  land  and  the  church  and 
are  like  those  of  the  minister  of  Christ.  The 
young  Christian  who  gathers  a  new  class 
of  poor  children,  and  keeps  them  together 
for  years,  and  labours  for  their  souls,  does 
more  to  hold  up  the  hands  of  his  pastor  and 
elders  than  by  any  and  all  other  means 
which  occur  to  me.     And  the  company  of 


332         THE  teacher's  incitement. 

young  disciples  who,  after  conference  and 
prayer,  fix  on  a  new  locality,  and  there,  in 
some  destitute  vicinage,  institute  a  new 
Sunday-school,  give  a  refreshment  and  en- 
couragement to  their  pastor,  and  a  propel- 
ling force  to  their  church,  and  a  means  of 
salvation  to  their  city,  far,  far  beyond  the 
bare  contribution  of  thousands.  Our  con- 
sciences must  be  left  to  determine  how  far 
these  several  obligations  come  upon  us 
respectively. 

If  now,  from  looking  at  the  classes  of 
persons  on  whom  the  duty  is  incumbent, 
we  turn  to  contemplate  the  field  on  which 
to  operate,  we  can  hardly  refrain  from  won- 
der and  alarm.  1.  Here  are  our  own  chil- 
dren. "With  all  our  parental  yearnings  open 
and  naked  to  God,  what  is  it  that  (in  his  pre- 
sence) we  chiefly  desire  for  them  ?  What 
is  it  we  are  labouring  to  secure  for  them  ? 
What  is  it,  on  their  behalf,  towards  which 
you  would  most  freely  make  sacrifices  ?  If 
you   have   not    ruined    them   already   and 


THE  teacher's  ixcitemext.  333 

Racrificed  their  souls  to  wealth  or  accom- 
plishment, I  charge  you,  in  the  name  of 
God,  teach  them  daily,  pray  with  them, 
leave  no  means  unemployed  which  may 
tend  to  their  salvation  !  Charge  your  con- 
sciences with  the  solemn  duty  of  gathering 
those  you  love  around  3^ou  for  the  daily 
worship  of  the  household.  And  be  not  weary 
in  these  services,  because  your  life  is  un- 
certain, and  at  such  an  hour  as  ye  think 
not  these  children  may  come  under  the 
hands  of  others.  2.  We  owe  a  duty  to 
those  who  have  no  Christian  nurture  at 
home.  If  their  parents  cannot  or  will  not, 
we  (with  their  permission)  ought  to  take 
them  under  training;  or,  if  they  are  or- 
phans, we  ought  in  this  re?pect  to  become 
their  parents  for  Christ's  sake.  Any  single 
city  furnishes  thousands  of  such.  Many  of 
these  are  not  absolutely  paupers ;  some  of 
them  are  even  children  of  opulence.  But 
they  are  all  alike  needy  in  respect  to  the 
true    riches    of   youth ;    while    a    myriad 


334         THE  teacher's  incitement. 

of  literal  and  undeniable  poor  crave  our 
bounty  and  seem  to  cry  aloud  for  our 
mercy.  These  are  the  persons  who  be- 
come soldiers,  citizens,  electors,  magistrates 
and  jurymen ;  these  are  they  who  decree 
changes  and  work  revolutions,  who  give 
character  to  the  country,  create  both  judges 
and  laws  and  found  new  republics.  These 
are  the  America  that  is  to  be.  "Would  you 
behold  them.?  Go  out,  this  hour,  to  our 
public  squares  and  parks,  our  wharves  and 
piers,  our  avenues,  thoroughfares  and  sub- 
urban commons,  our  steamboats  and  ferries. 
Listen  to  their  voices  by  sunrise,  as  they 
profane  the  Lord's  day,  through  the  en- 
couragement of  a  heaven-daring  and  abet- 
ting people,  by  loud,  indecent  proclama- 
tion of  their  Sunday-wares.  Follow  them 
up  (their  name  is  legion)  to  every  resort 
but  those  of  religion,  and  seriously  ask 
yourselves  what  is  to  be  the  result  of  such 
an  education  in  the  streets  in  all  our  cities 
for   another   half-century.      How  much  of 


THE    teacher's    INCITEMENT.  835 

that  scriptural  knowledge  with  which  the 
Puritan  youth  of  a  century  ago  grew  up, 
think  you,  is  to  be  found  in  these  masses, 
who,  nevertheless,  are  to  have  an  amazing, 
unreckoned  weight  in  the  political  scale  of 
the  time  that  is  coming?  And  may  we 
not  expect  the  time  (which  God  forefend !) 
when  the  Lord's  day  shall  be  as  free  to  the 
tradesman  and  artisan  as  it  now  is  to  the 
steamer  and  railway,  and  when  a  whole 
community,  like  that  of  France,  shall  defy 
God  by  taking  his  day  for  their  national 
election  ?  When  some  American  Sir  Ben- 
jamin Hall  shall  mock  the  God  of  the  Sab- 
bath to  the  sound  of  the  cornet,  flute,  harp, 
sackbut,  psaltery  and  dulcimer,  and  some 
American  Boz  make  sport  of  the  Sabba- 
tarian precision  and  exhibit  a  lying  bur- 
lesque of  the  pietism  he  would  have  to  be 
rabbled  and  destroyed?  To  reach  this  in- 
creasing, and  increasingly  lawless,  genera- 
tion, no  method  of  prevention  can  be 
named    but    Christian  education.      And    of 


336         THE  teacher's  ixcitement. 

Christian  education,  the  cheapest  and  hoi^e- 
fullest  mode  is  the  Sunday-school.  3.  I  feel 
called  upon  to  make  our  field  of  observa- 
tion yet  more  narrow,  and  to  consider,  not 
the  ignorant  poor  in  general,  but  those  of 
your  oion  particular  city  or  town,  and  your  own 
part  of  it.  As  has  been  repeatedly  urged, 
we  owe  a  duty  to  the  territory  in  which  we 
live.  There  is  no  power,  it  is  true,  in  the 
material  structure  of  a  house  of  worship, 
from  which  any  virtue  can  be  supposed  to 
emanate  to  sanctify  and  sweeten  the  sur- 
rounding mass;  but  it  ought  never  to  be 
thought  of  as  a  possibility,  that  a  church  of 
Jesus  Christ  should  stand  for  years  in  any 
locality  without  doing  something  towards 
giving  the  gospel  forth  around  it.  To  efiect 
aught  of  this,  however,  an  influence  must  go 
forth  from  the  members  of  the  body ;  and 
there  is  no  mode  of  exerting  such  influence 
so  potent  as  the  Sunday-school.  We  see 
around  us,  and  shall  see  around  us  every 
day,  more  and  more,  the  crowded  popula- 


THE    teacher's    INCITEMENT.  837 

tion  of  labour,  if  not  of  want.     We  see,  at 
least  for  temporary  sojourn,  thousands  of 
emigrants  from  the  Old  World.      The  de- 
mand for  Christian  teaching  and  training 
that   comes   up   from  such  a  company  of 
fellow-immortals  is  importunate;    and  the 
nearest  way  to  supply  their  necessities  is 
by  new  Sunday-schools.     Glad  am  I  to  hear 
of    one    honoured    church    after    another 
breaking  forth  over  their  own  limits  and 
gathering    large     mission-schools    in    new 
localities.     They  give  the  best  proof  that 
they  have   a   true  church-attachment,  and 
such  healthful  interest  in  their  own  com- 
munion as  is  usually  accompanied  by  other 
tokens   of  vigour,  happiness   and  growth. 
These  are  the  supports  which  a  pastor  feels 
in  his  inmost  soul ;  they  are  precisely  those 
thino-s  which  he  has  neither  strength  nor 
time  to  accomplish,  and  which  fall  pecu- 
liarly within  the  sphere  of  the  Christian  laity. 
That  so  large  a  work  of  this  kind  is  now  in 
progress  in  some  of  our  cities  should  be  mat- 

29 


338         THE  teacher's  ixcitemext. 

ter  of  congratulation^  perchance  of  rebuke. 
Half  the  stir,  half  the  invention,  half  the 
conference,  which  we  bestow,  any  week,  on 
a  seculanii/  which  touches  our  interests  or 
tastes,  would  give  inception  to  spiritual 
labours  that  might  bless  our  children's 
children.  4.  But  this  is  not  America ;  and 
perhaps  the  new  States  and  Territories  are, 
after  all,  the  appropriate  field  for  the 
highest  Sunday-school  triumphs.  The  sub- 
ject is  a  little  worn :  yet  none  of  us  have 
felt  its  importance.  I  have  no  belief  that 
our  dutv  is  dischara^ed  when  we  have  cared 
for  our  own  residence.  The  rapidly-filling 
regions  of  the  South  and  ^est  demand  the 
gospel.  Without  it  the  next  generation 
perishes.  Churches  cannot  be  founded 
with  sufficient  speed ;  ministers  are  not  to 
be  had :  but  churches  are  every  day  growing 
out  of  Sunday-schools.  Where  we  cannot 
send  the  fine  flour  of  our  mills,  let  us  at 
least  send  the  handful  of  seed-corn.  Let 
QS  send  the  school ;  let  us  send  the  library. 


THE   teacher's    INCITEMENT.  339 

Truth  is  truth,  potent  in  all  its  divinely- 
appointed  qualities,  and  gospel  is  gospel, 
even  when  not  resounding  in  lordly, 
gilded,  frescoed  cathedrals,  but  whispered 
in  the  prairie-cabin,  or  under  the  spread- 
ing oak  or  tulip-tree.  And  oh,  I  doubt  not, 
the  mingled  hum  of  thousands  of  ruddy 
boys  and  maidens,  going  up  on  the  blessed 
morning  from  these  scattered  schools,  con- 
stitutes a  harmony  which  is  sweet  in  the 
ears  of  the  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth  !  To  these 
also  we  have  a  duty.  And  though  the  aid- 
ing of  them,  in  our  humble  measure,  may 
involve  some  additional  effort,  yet  be  not 
weaiy,  be  not  weary  in  well-doing !  The 
field,  then,  on  which  to  operate,  at  home 
and  abroad,  is  sufficiently  clear  and  en- 
gaging. 

My  dear  Christian  friends  who  are  en- 
gaged in  actual  teaching,  I  have  scarcely 
allowed  myself  room  to  say  what  was  in- 
tended. Of  your  attention,  interest  and  ac- 
quiescence   I  have    had    no    doubt.      You 


340         THE  teacher's  incitement. 

have  given  the  hest  proof  of  your  faith  by 
your  works.  Some  of  you  have  been  long 
and  steadily  in  the  service,  and  you  are,  of 
all  persons,  the  most  ready  to  own  its  im- 
portance. You  will  listen  with  forbear- 
ance to  a  few  advices  which  my  subject 
authorizes  to  those  who  occupy  the  post 
of  Sunday-school  teachers.  My  brethren, 
we  have  intrusted  to  you  these  souls.  Other 
teaching  looks  chieflyat  mind  and  manners; 
but  you  look  at  the  salvation  of  these  lambs, 
and  of  all  whom  you  can  reach.  See  that 
you  have  the  truth  yourselves.  Avoid  the 
horrid  evil  of  sowing  poison-seed  and  in- 
culcating error.  Believe  and  practise  that 
which  you  teach.  Beware  of  taking  up  the 
time  of  your  pupils  with  any  matters  which 
are  too  high  for  them,  with  unimportant  or 
less  important  things,  with  doubtful  dispu- 
tations, with  theological  whimseys  of  your 
own.  See  to  it  that  you  supply  the  pure 
m.ilk  of  the  word ;  that  which  is  able  to 
save  your   souls  through  faith.     Consider, 


THE    teacher's    INCITEMENT.  oil 

I  beseech  you,  the  need  of  great  diligence 
both  in  preparation  and  instruction.  It  is 
not  by  intermitted  labours  that  this  kind  of 
service  becomes  effectual.  Week  by  week 
the  force  must  be  applied  in  the  same  place. 
Set  an  example  of  early  attendance  and 
rigorous  punctuality;  evince  to  your  pupils 
that  you  regard  your  Sabbath  work  as  not 
less  attractive  or  important  than,  your  place 
of  weekly  duty,  your  office,  bank  or  count- 
ing-room. Endeavour  to  seek  out  your 
little  charge  in  their  own  homes,  to  add  to 
their  number  and  to  benefit  their  parents. 
Make  them  subjects  of  your  daily  devo- 
tions. Embrace  every  occasion  of  mingling 
your  studies,  counsels  and  prayers  with 
those  of  your  fellow-teachers,  and  rejoice 
in  every  new  bond  which  draws  brother 
towards  brother  or  sister  towards  sister  in 
Christ.  Leave  it  to  the  hypocrite  in  re- 
ligion and  the  upstart  in  society  to  ti^eat 
with  any  sneer  or  neglect  those  who  are 
Christ's  but  are  not  the  world's ;  who  are 

29* 


342         THE  teacher's  incitement. 

less  wealthy  or  of  lower  rank  in  your  eyes. 
Perliaps  going  back  a  little  in  pedigree  will 
dissolve  the  noble  bearing  of  many  among 
us.  In  Christ's  service  remember  it  is  you 
who  are  honoured ;  we  are  asking  your 
service  for  him,  not  your  patronage.  Sink 
into  nothing  at  his  feet,  and  live  entirely  on 
his  strength  and  in  view  of  his  appearing. 


THE  END. 


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